Dreams of Hosts
by whales and dolphins
Summary: When Haruhi starts having strange dreams about the host club, things start to go awry in her mind. Who does she truly love? Who will be able to win her heart? And what does her boyfriend have to say about all this? Random spoilers throughout; in manga universe. complete.
1. The Dream of Kyoya

**A/N**

**HEY ALL! This is my first story, and I hope that this will be alright. Please enjoy, review as you please. Try not to flame too much :)**

**Suggestions appreciated, and love to you all~**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.  
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><p>It was a cold day at the Ouran High School Host Club.<p>

Naturally, Tamaki Suoh, the notorious 'king' and president of the host club was fooling around like a psycho, yelling something about 'commoners kotatsu' and 'down comforters for my daughter!'

Said 'daughter', Haruhi Fujioka, was being glomped on both sides by the devilish Hitachiin twins, Kaoru and Hikaru. She had a rather disgruntled look on her face as the twins snuggled up against her.

"Haruhi, why don't you hang out with us after the club? It would be fun," Kaoru suggested as he pinched her cheek.

"Yeah, Haruhi, our mom would love you to come and model her winter line. She's trying to make things that are attractive on both guys and girls, so I figure you should be the perfect one to model it!" Hikaru agreed as he pulled Haruhi away from Kaoru into a tight embrace.

"Go away Kaoru, Hikaru..." she mumbled as Hikaru squeezed her.

Not ten seconds had passed after she said that when Tamaki hurled himself at Hikaru and started shaking him violently.

"How dare you molest your sister like that! Mommy! Help me out here!" Tamaki rambled. He then turned to Haruhi. "Oh, my precious daughter, did Hikaru do anything dishonorable to you? Daddy will punish him. And so will mommy," Tamaki said as he knelt down and gave Haruhi his sparkling-puppy-eyed look with his violet eyes.

"Excuse me, Tamaki, but since when did I agree to help you with your ridiculous escapades?" Kyoya Ohtori, the club's 'Shadow King,' 'mother,' and vice president inquired as he wrote something down in that mysterious black notebook he had lying around.

"BUT KYOOOOOOYAAAA! YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!" Tamaki was almost a sniveling wreck as he knelt down by Kyoya's chair and gripped his leg. Tamaki was literally starting to cry, and Kyoya's expensive uniform pants began to get stained with tears and a bit of snot.

"Tamaki, I will be billing you for the cleaning of these pants. Now get up and get ready for your customers. I don't want to have to give you a debt too," Kyoya stated calmly as he lightly kicked Tamaki away and pushed up his glasses. The light glinted off the lenses, giving him a slightly malicious look. "We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to our precious king, now would we?"

Tamaki shook his blonde hair and straightened his clothes as he stood up. "Was that a threat, Kyoya?" he asked as he shot a slight glare in the Shadow King's direction.

"No, of course not Tamaki. The Host Club would be defunct without you, so we obviously cannot have you getting harmed, correct?" Kyoya shut his laptop, stood up, and walked to the changing room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must change my pants."

"Well boss, looks like you really screwed up this time," Hikaru said as he poked Tamaki in the ribs.

"Tama-chan, you've really gotten Kyo-chan mad now!" Mitsukuni 'Hunny' Haninozuka, the resident shotaboy said as he inhaled a slice of strawberry shortcake.

"Yeah," Hunny's tall, mostly silent cousin Takashi 'Mori' Morinozuka agreed as he wiped some whipped cream off the blonde's cheek.

Tamaki retreated to his emo corner, mushroom colony already flourishing. "Mommy doesn't love me anymore..." he muttered over and over while crouched over, squeezing his plush bear, and prodding his mushrooms.

"Hunny, you have whipped cream all over your shirt now," Kaoru noted as he picked up a cookie and nibbled on the edge.

"I'll go get him a new one..." Haruhi said as she walked off to the changing room.

"Wait no Kyo—" Hikaru started. The door shut. "Ya's in there..." he finished lamely.

* * *

><p>"That damn Tamaki..." Kyoya grumbled as he took off his pants in the club changing room. Clad in an unbuttoned collared shirt and a pair of navy boxers, he walked over to the closet where they kept the spare uniforms.<p>

_Click._

Kyoya turned to face the noise as the door opened, and Haruhi began to walk in. Haruhi froze, an expression of shock on her face. She jerked her head back out and slammed the door shut.

She sank against the wall, hunched over. She had just seen Kyoya. In his boxers. With his shirt hanging open.

She realized that most girls would die to be in her position, but she just wanted to curl up in a hole and die... Kyoya would never let her get away with this, he would probably skyrocket her debt from 8,000,000 yen into 8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 yen... and he would never let her pay it off anyways. She would probably have to be his servant for life...

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><p>Haruhi slowly walked back to the club room, and joined Tamaki in his emo corner.<p>

"Haruhi... what are you doing here?" Tamaki asked as he poked his mushrooms.

"Kyoya-senpai's gonna kill me..." she replied as she prodded another mushroom.

Tamaki sprung up. "I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM THE SHADOW KING! DADDY CAN'T LET HIS DAUGHTER GET HURT!" He hugged Haruhi and swung her around.

"Get off me, senpai..." she mumbled listlessly as he twirled her in the air.

"What was this about protecting Haruhi from me?" Kyoya asked as he came in through the door.

Tamaki set Haruhi down on a sofa, next to Mori. "Mori-senpai, protect her, ok?" he told Mori. He then turned to Kyoya. "Haruhi said you were going to kill her! We can't have that!" Tamaki told Kyoya.

"Why would I have a need to kill her? Then she won't be able to pay off her debt. I most certainly can't have that happening," Kyoya said as he pushed up his glasses. "And we will be in a significant amount of debt if you insist on getting 50 kotatsu and down comforters."

"But... but... Haruhi said..."

"Tamaki, I recommend you stop blathering and open the doors. If our profits go down because of your idiocy, I will make you pay the deficit out of your own pocket... times five." Kyoya glared at Tamaki.

Tamaki visibly shuddered. The black aura of the Shadow King was a force to be reckoned with. It seemed especially dark today.

"Haruhi, come with me. We have some... things to discuss," Kyoya said to Haruhi.

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><p>Haruhi gulped. <em>Oh shit... oh shit... oh shit... he's gonna kill me... or increase my debt by a million... or...<em>

She continued thinking worriedly as she followed Kyoya into another empty room. He turned around and faced her, an incomprehensible expression on his face. This worried Haruhi even more, as she couldn't tell if he was mad at her or not.

"I suppose you're wondering why I asked you to come with me," Kyoya said as he pushed up his glasses.

"Erm... yeah, I am, senpai..." Haruhi mumbled as she looked down at the floor.

She didn't see Kyoya walk up so that he was right in front of her. He reached down and lifted up her chin with his index finger, so her brown eyes met his grey.

"It's rude to mumble and look down when others are speaking to you. Didn't you know? Or do commoners just have no manners?" Kyoya asked as he looked right into her eyes.

Haruhi suppressed a shiver. _His eyes..._ She had never seen them like this before. Instead of the usual dark pools of grey-black that they usually were, it seemed like they were... blazing would only be the right word for them. They burned with some kind of inhuman force as his eyes pierced into Haruhi's own gaze.

"I'm... sorry... senpai..." she said. His gaze made her mildly uncomfortable, and she looked away.

Kyoya took a hold of her face again. "Don't break eye contact."

"Senpai, what are you doing? This isn't like you."

Kyoya released Haruhi's face and sat down on a chair. He motioned for Haruhi to join him. She walked over hesitantly, unsure of what was going on.

"Haruhi... what were you doing in the dressing room?" he asked.

"I was getting a new shirt for Hunny-senpai... he'd gotten whipped cream on it..."

Kyoya sighed. "Why were you in such a hurry to leave?"

Haruhi fidgeted, not knowing how to answer. "Because... you were in there..." she mumbled.

"What have I told you about mumbling? I thought you were smart."

"Shut up senpai, if you just brought me here to ask me random questions and try and criticize my ettiquette, I'm leaving." She stood up and started to walk towards the door.

Kyoya grabbed her arm on impulse. "I apologize, Haruhi..." he said. "The main thing is... well..." he began.

Haruhi's eyes widened slightly. T_he Shadow King, at a loss for words? The twins would have a field day if they found out..._

"I... don't understand, senpai."

"I... didn't want you to leave..."

Haruhi's jaw (metaphorically) dropped to the floor. _WHAT THE HELL?_

"See, Haruhi... the truth is... I love you. I have since you walked through the door 358 days ago. Even when you look like a guy. Even when you're hosting other girls. I love you, Haruhi Fujioka, and I will until the day I die. I love you more than money, more than my father's business, more than my own life."

Kyoya's eyes were burning into her own with a passion tenfold of that before. She felt something inside her heart. It felt like her heart was beating too fast and it was going to beat out of her chest. She felt a little lightheaded. He leaned in and...


	2. Her Boyfriend

**A/N  
><strong>

**sorry that this chapter is kind of a short filler, i needed to put some background info to set the stage hahaha**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

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><p>Haruhi awoke in a cold sweat. She blinked twice, slowly, as she looked around the room she was in. Something stirred next to her.<p>

"Huh... Haru, babe, what are you doing up...?"

Haruhi turned to her right, where a dark-haired figure lay next to her. She sighed.

"It's okay, Arai, I just had a weird dream..."

"'Kay Haruhi, I'm here for you if you need anything."

Haruhi could see the slight gleam in her boyfriend's smile as he lay back down, pulling her with him into a warm embrace.

She and Arai had been dating for about a year now. Ever since their Karuizawa trip, she had realized that she actually did have feelings for him. They had begun secretly dating (well, Kyoya had probably known all along) a month or so after the trip, and eventually broke the news to the host club a few weeks ago. Not surprisingly, Hikaru and Tamaki had taken the news exceptionally poorly.

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><p><em> "WHAT? I LOST TO THAT IDIOT AGAIN?"<em>

_ "Hikaru, calm down, it's not the end of the world. You still have me!"_

_ "MY DAUGHTER IS BEING TAKEN AWAY FROM ME! MOMMY, DO SOMETHING!"_

_ "Tamaki, may I remind you that Haruhi was never your daughter, and you have no say in who she wants to go out with..."_

_ "Haru-chan, that's great news!"_

_ "Yeah."_

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><p>Haruhi relaxed in Arai's arms as she remembered the odd scene. They hadn't taken it nearly as easily as her father, who was thrilled that she hadn't fallen in love with "that blonde idiot," but was slightly heartbroken that it wasn't "that handsome young man Kyoya." In fact, Ranka was so good about it that he let Haruhi and Arai sleep together...<p>

Not _that_ way, but as in 'sure Arai, you can come over and keep Haruhi company when I'm away at work... _JUST LEAVE BEFORE I GET BACK SO I DON'T WANNA KILL YOU_.'

This was one of those days. Ranka was away, and Arai was here to stay... provided that the host club didn't decide to storm on over and ruin everything for her.

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><p>Ever since she and Arai had begun going out, she felt like her world was complete. He was a perfect boyfriend: loving, caring, supportive. But for some reason, the day she accepted his (second) confession, she had begun having strange dreams.<p>

The first dream had begun with Hunny trying to seduce her. It was so oddly realistic that the next day, she couldn't meet her senpai's eyes without blushing madly. It was only after Mori had given her more than one quizzical look and Hunny had asked why "Haru-chan is so red" had she realized that it was all a dream and she was being ridiculous.

She had thought that it would be over after that, but the next week she had had a dream with Mori. Granted, that one had been rather undramatic due to Mori's silence that seemed to even carry on into the dream world, but it unnerved her nonetheless.

The dream about Kyoya had been the third dream. This had been the most bizarre one yet, as she didn't think Kyoya would _EVER_ pull a stunt like that. It would take the world ending, all his money leaving him, and his father forbidding him the company unless he said that for Kyoya to ever say that to her.

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><p>Still slightly unsettled, she fell back into a mercifully dreamless sleep, cradled in Arai's arms.<p> 


	3. The Supermarket, Part 1

**A/N  
><strong>

**hehehe so i guess i kinda trolled you all with that last chapter... but if you paid attention to the title and summary, you would have known... ;)**  
><strong>if it seems a little incomplete at the end, i decided to split up this chapter and the next since it seemed like it was getting a little bit long...<br>**

**oh, and the bok choy incident actually happened to one of my friends! well actually, her bro did it but this chapter is dedicated to my chipmunk twinnie  
><strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

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><p>The next morning when Haruhi awoke, Arai was gone and there was a folded index card on her nightstand. She rubbed her eyes groggily, and reached over to pick up the card. She wasn't surprised, as Arai always left her a little note after he left.<p>

_Haruhi, as you've probably expected, it's just me again. Miss you already ._

_ Are you up for a date tonight? Call me! Love you babe :)_

_ -Arai_

Haruhi smiled. Arai was so sweet. She re-folded the note, and put it in a box where she kept the rest of the notes from him. She got out of bed, and stretched. She could hear her dad in the kitchen, 'trying' to cook something. She ran out of her room before Ranka could burn something else.

"Dad, don't try and cook anything! You'll just end up—" she exclaimed as she burst through the doorway.

"Ehh?" Ranka asked as he turned around, wearing a frilled pink apron. There was a smoking pot on the stove in front of him.

"Burning the food..." Haruhi sighed. She walked over to the stove and grabbed a pot holder. She grabbed a spatula from the side of the stove and scraped the burned bok choy out of the pot. "Dad, how can you possibly burn bok choy, if you were trying to boil it?"

Ranka shrugged sheepishly. "I don't know..." he said as he stepped away from the stove, hands up as if in surrender. "I guess that's why I have you, darling!"

Haruhi groaned. "Dad, just go sit in the living room. I'll just make scrambled eggs or something..." she said as she opened the fridge and poked around. She opened the carton of eggs. Unfortunately, there was only one left in there. She put the egg back, and peered around for other potential foods. It turned out that all that was left in there was a small block of old cheese and a few carrots. She sighed in dismay. "I'm going to go grocery shopping..."

Haruhi went back to her room and changed into a pair of Hitachiin-brand dark skinny jeans and a loose t-shirt. She had made a grudging agreement with the twins that they could give her clothes, as long as they didn't give her any girly clothes unless there was an occasion that required a dress. Not surprisingly, she had lost that argument, especially when both her dad and Arai had sided with the twins. It had taken several hours of complaining, yelling, threats, negotiations, and compromise in order to get them to back down from shoving her closet full of dresses. By the end of that, her dad and the twins were in tears because she refused to wear girly clothes, she was utterly exhausted, and Arai was just standing there, open-mouthed in shock.

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><p>Haruhi left her apartment. She didn't bother locking the door, since Ranka was still at home. But to her dismay, the host club was sitting in Kyoya's limo, parked right outside the apartment complex. She groaned loudly, and tried to walk by without being seen... to no avail.<p>

"Hey, isn't that Haru-chan?" asked Hunny as she speed-walked by.

"Yeah," Mori said as Hunny opened the door of the limo.

"I wonder what she's doing," Hikaru pondered as he got out of the car as well.

"Probably going grocery shopping," Kaoru said as he followed his brother out.

"GENTLEMEN! WE ARE GOING ON AN EXPEDITION! TO A COMMONER'S SUPERMARKET!" Tamaki exclaimed as he stood up and poked his head out of the sunroof.

"Tamaki, get down before I decide to call my police on you and have you arrested for causing a public disturbance," Kyoya growled as he stepped out of the shotgun seat. He was still very mad about being woken up, as it was 'only' 12 P.M.

Hunny ran after Haruhi. "Haru-chan, wait up!"

Haruhi contemplated whether or not it would be better to try and make a run for it or not.

"I wouldn't recommend running, Haruhi. Not unless you wanted to increase your debt again," Kyoya called out.

_It's like he's a freaking mind reader..._ Haruhi thought in dismay.

Tamaki ran over and hugged her. "Haruhi, how could you go to a commoner's supermarket and not invite us?" he asked as he slightly shook her back and forth.

A vein twitched in her forehead. "All of you... SHUT UP!" she screamed at them.

The host club members (except Kyoya) all froze with shocked expressions on their faces (Kyoya just pushed up his glasses and watched). They had rarely ever seen her like this before. It was demon-lord-number-three time.

"Is it so hard for me to get _ONE. FREAKING. DAY_. away from you guys? I am trying to have a relaxing weekend, sleeping, studying, and hanging out with my boyfriend. Is it so bad for me to want two days out of a week to myself? I can't stand you guys stalking me all the time."

Tamaki's eyes filled with the beginnings of tears. "Mommy, do something, please."

Kyoya sighed, and took out his ubiquitous black book. "Haruhi, if you don't—"

Haruhi then turned her gaze on Kyoya. "I don't give a damn if you try to increase my debt, even after my debt is paid you guys will still probably find a way to make me stay in the damn host club anyways."

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><p>Kyoya smirked. She sure had a lot of spunk... maybe that was one of the reasons why he loved her. Thankfully, she had fainted and didn't seem to remember his (rather embarrassing) confession that he had given her a while back, before she had begun going out with Arai... He'd had to blackmail all the other hosts into silence, knowing that if she ever remembered, she would murder them all...<p>

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><p>"Alright then, Haruhi, I suppose we'll have to depart," Kyoya said as he turned back to the limo, where the driver had been watching the scene unfold with rabid curiosity.<p>

Tamaki's jaw dropped to the floor. "Kyoya... I thought you were going to try and talk some sense into her!"

"Tamaki, need I remind you that I need sleep?" Kyoya grumbled at the rest of the host club before climbing into the backseat and laying across the whole thing.

The rest of the host club sighed. Their plans to stalk Haruhi... had failed. For the first time ever.

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><p>"Kaoru... do you think Haruhi is shunning us for the company of her boyfriend?" Hikaru asked as they walked dejectedly back to the limo.<p>

"I don't know, Hika, but I'm just curious as to why Kyoya gave up so quickly this time," Kaoru replied. It was odd, usually Kyoya put much more effort into these types of things. Also, Haruhi's comment about wanting to spend time with her boyfriend seemed to hurt Hikaru more than he let on. Kaoru knew these things. They _WERE_ twins, after all.

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><p>"Takashi... isn't Kyo-chan acting a little strange?" Hunny asked, as he popped a piece of candy into his mouth.<p>

"Hmm..." Mori had to agree. Kyoya was either really sleep deprived, or... maybe this had something to do with his recent revelation.

Mori was just mad that Kyoya had gotten to Haruhi before the rest of them. He, too, had nursed a soft spot for Haruhi, and had been thinking about confessing. But Kyoya had gotten to her first, she had fainted, and he decided that confessing was probably a pretty bad idea.

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><p>Haruhi watched the host club drive off. She couldn't help but feel a huge sense of relief. She had finally gotten them to stop stalking her. She sighed contentedly, and walked off to the supermarket.<p> 


	4. The Supermarket, Part 2

**A/N**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

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><p>"Kyoya, you weren't serious, were you?" Tamaki asked as he clutched his teddy, mildly depressed that his 'daughter' decided to leave them<p>

"Tamaki... don't you know me by now?" Kyoya asked as he pushed up his glasses, light somehow reflecting across them even though the limousine windows were tinted dark.

Tamaki's face lit up. "YES! WE'RE GOING TO A COMMONER'S SUPERMARKET!" he exclaimed. "I love you, Kyoya~"

"Tamaki, please get off me. It's nice to know I am loved but you already know I do not return the feeling," Kyoya replied, blushing the faintest of pinks and struggling out of Tamaki's embrace.

Tamaki grudgingly let go of Kyoya. Tamaki had always nursed a few secret feelings for Kyoya, but he knew that they could never be returned, because Kyoya only had eyes for Haruhi. Even if his father and Kyoya's father had never made that bet, Kyoya would always have the upper hand, because he just simply wasn't interested, one way or another.

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><p>"Driver, please take us to Konbini Supermarket please," Kyoya ordered his driver.<p>

"Yes, young master." The driver began driving to the supermarket that Haruhi most often visited for her grocery shopping.

"Yes! Now we can stock up on our commoner's instant coffee!" Hikaru said as he sat back in his seat and slung an arm around Kaoru.

Kyoya started drafting a list of supplies they needed for the host club. "Hmm... coffee, commoner's ramen..." he muttered to himself while he wrote things in his notebook.

"Takashi, can we get some cake?" Hunny asked.

"If it's on sale."

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><p>Haruhi arrived at the supermarket at around the same time as the host club, because their car got stuck in some minor traffic on the way. She didn't see their (highly conspicuous) car as she walked inside the automatic doors.<p>

"I guess I'll get bread, eggs, milk, some vegetables..." she said as she started walking towards the milk section.

* * *

><p>"Gentlemen! Operation 'Follow Haruhi Without Being Seen (or FHWBS)' is now underway!"<p>

"Fuh-hu-wa-buh-suh?" Hikaru asked.

"NO! How dare you try and abbreviate things without my permission!"

"Boss, you're the one that did it in the first place..." the twins said together.

"...sir, I would like you to stop growing mushrooms in the store, we do have a sizeable selection over in the produce department..."

* * *

><p>Haruhi heard Tamaki's voice from all the way across the store. For the second time that day, she felt the uncontrollable urge to slap one of them across the face... She turned around, and her face bumped into the chest of a pretty tall guy.<p>

"I'm sorry... oh, hi Mori-senpai..." She internally sighed. If Mori was here, than unfortunately, Tamaki's voice earlier was not an illusion, and they were actually here...

"Takashi, where did you—OH! Hi, Haru-chan!" Hunny called as he walked up to Mori.

"Well, I guess 'Operation fuh-hu-wa-buh-suh failed," Hikaru said as he and Kaoru came up to them, two carts piled high with different brands of instant coffee.

Tamaki and Kyoya came down the aisle next to them. "Oh, there you are, Haruhi!" Tamaki said, pushing his own cart full of assorted snacks. Kyoya stood next to him, calculator in hand, trying to figure out how much all these snacks would set them back.

"Oh hello, Haruhi, fancy seeing you here," Kyoya remarked, as if the six rich boys would actually go to a commoner's supermarket and see her by chance.

"Don't try and screw with me, Kyoya, I know you guys were just here to stalk me," Haruhi grumbled exasperatedly as she turned around to go to the bread aisle.

* * *

><p><em>I would very much like to screw you... but save that for a different time, <em>the dirty part of Kyoya's mind thought. He watched Haruhi walk off, somehow exuding an exasperated and angry air even from behind.

"Well, Kyo-chan, what do we do now?" Hunny asked. "Haru-chan's already pissed, I don't think we should follow her any more..."

Mori had a shocked expression on his face. "Mitsukuni, don't use dirty words," he admonished.

"Takashi, I'm a third-year high school student, normal people talk like this!" Hunny argued.

"No more saying that." Mori was firm on this.

Hunny sighed. The rest of the host club watched in shock. Whenever Mori said more than a few words at a time, it always shocked the rest of them into silence. Well, besides Kyoya and Hunny. Kyoya appeared to be tallying down the number of words Mori said, and Hunny was just used to it in general.

* * *

><p>Haruhi finished picking out her items, and stood in line to pay. When the cashier got to her, someone stepped in front of her and slapped down a bill. She couldn't see the amount, but presumed it was a large one.<p>

"It's on me. Keep the change."

Haruhi turned around.


	5. Preparations For a Date

**A/N**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>"Senpai...?" Haruhi asked.<p>

"I said, it's on me. Let's go, Haruhi."

He picked up her grocery bags, and started to walk out the door.

"Wait for me, you idiot!" She grabbed her purse and ran after him.

* * *

><p>She followed him outside to his car.<p>

"What are you waiting for? Get in."

_Rich bastard... I bet he's gonna charge me for this _she thought as she got into the spacious backseat. He sat down next to her.

"Take us to Haruhi's apartment," he said.

"Yes, young master." The driver pulled the limousine out of the supermarket parking lot, and started to drive in the direction of her apartment.

* * *

><p>They arrived at Haruhi's apartment. She took out her keys, opened the door, grabbed her groceries, walked inside, and slammed the door behind her.<p>

Not five minutes after she had slammed the door shut, the doorbell rang.

"GO AWAY YOU RICH BASTARD I'M NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING YOU!" she yelled in the general direction of the door.

There was silence, then,

"Haruhi, the last time I checked I was an unemployed teenager, and I thought we had a date tonight?"

Haruhi blushed a deep red, and got up to open the door.

"Ha, ha, I'm sorry Arai. I thought it was one of those host club idiots... oh shit."

The host club was standing outside the door behind Arai. He had a most apologetic expression on his face, and was shaking slightly. No doubt one or more of the rich bastards had threatened him into somehow getting them into the house.

"Arai, come in... the rest of you, just go." The first part of the sentence was said with a sweet smile, then her words turned biting, cold, and was completed with a murderous glare worthy of Kyoya and Ritsu Kasanoda.

The host club paled in fear (Kyoya excluded, as usual) and left the apartment with little complaint. She sighed in relief, and sat down at her living room table. She motioned for Arai to sit next to her.

"Haruhi, are you alright? You seem kinda tense," Arai said as he sat down across from her at the small square table.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks though," Haruhi replied.

Arai placed his hands over her own on top of the table. "If anything happens, just know that I'll always be here for you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you, ever."

Haruhi blushed. Sometimes she felt that Arai was too nice for his own good.

"Are you still alright for today? My friend got me reservations at this new restaurant."

Haruhi smiled at him. "Of course! I wouldn't miss it for anything."

He laughed. "I should get going, I have a few things to take care of. Oh, and tell those Hitachiin weirdos to get a dress for you. It's a semi fancy place," he said, and winked. He put on his shoes, and exited her apartment.

* * *

><p>Haruhi sighed. It had been two hours since Kaoru and Hikaru had come over to try and help Haruhi get a dress, and they had still not been able to find a dress for her. There were several that she had liked, but they were all vetoed for one reason or another. Conversely, there were several that Kaoru and Hikaru had chosen that she vehemently refused to wear.<p>

"Hikaru, how can I wear a strapless dress like that, when it is obviously made for a person with a much larger chest size than myself?"

"Haruhi, that dress makes you look like you're wearing a tent. It's too big for you!"

"Kaoru, this dress barely covers my butt! What the hell were you thinking?"

Several tense hours had passed, until there were finally three dresses that they had agreed on.

The first was midnight blue velvet-y material that reached her knees. It had a simple bottom that fell to her knees, and had an off-the shoulder neckline. There was a row of diamonds (yes, real, as the Hitachiins would spare any expense for their little toy) around the waistband.

The second was a black dress, made of what appeared to Haruhi to be silk. It had a sweetheart neckline, and was tight to her waist, where it flared out into a skirt with a slight petticoat and varying shades of grey lace underneath (think lolita-style skirt)

The third was ivory satin, strapless, and also knee-length. It was sparsely embellished all over with small diamonds, and was slightly fitted.

They had all agreed to wait until Ranka got home in order to decide which dress to wear. While they waited, the twins were raiding the shoe collection that they had brought over, in order to find the perfect shoes to go with each outfit.

* * *

><p>Ranka opened the door and took off his shoes. "Haruhi~ I'm home!"<p>

The twins poked their heads out from Haruhi's bedroom. "Hi Ranka."

"YOU DEVILISH TWINS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HARUHI'S BEDROOM?"

The twins started to laugh hysterically. "Calm down Ranka, it's fine. It's just that Haruhi has a formal date with Arai and she asked us to help her find a dress."

Ranka perked up at the word 'dress.' "Oh! Wonderful! May I see?"

"Of course," Hikaru said. "We were waiting for you to get back so you could help Haruhi choose which one to wear."

Ranka joined the trio in Haruhi's room, where she was wearing the black dress.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked her father resignedly.

"Hm..." Ranka mumbled. "It's alright, but that skirt doesn't quite work for you, dear."

She then tried on the white one. "This one?"

"The color is too light, it does nothing for you!"

She finally tried on the blue one. "If this one doesn't work, I'm just going to go on the date in jeans." Haruhi looked as though her patience was wearing very thin.

Ranka smiled. "There will be no need for that, because this dress is perfect!"

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Now that one part was over, the second and third could begin... shoes and jewelry.

Ranka appointed himself in charge of the shoes, while the Hitachiins sped off to go find the perfect jewelry.

"Haruhi, do you want shoes that match, or contrasting shoes?"

"I don't freaking care, I want to go to sleep."

Ranka sighed, a slight smile on his face. Some things would never change. "Just go take a nap then, sweetie, we don't want you to have dark circles on your date!"

He took the shoe collection out of Haruhi's room and into the living room so she could sleep in peace. He dug through the boxes labeled 'flats,' '1-inch heels' and '2-inch heels' knowing that Haruhi would probably murder them all if she was forced to wear very high heels.

One quick run-though of the flats box told Ranka that there wasn't anything that would go right with Haruhi's dress. He opened the box to the 2-inch heels, deciding that one inch was simply too boring for this type of event.

After poking around for a few minutes, he found the perfect pair of heels. They were silver, somewhat strappy, and had a not-too thin heel. Perfect.

* * *

><p>Across town, the Hitachiins were having some problems of their own. They couldn't find any jewelry that screamed 'PERFECT FOR HARUHI' at them. Time was running out. There was only one hour left before Arai would come and pick Haruhi up, and they had yet to find anything.<p>

They had searched department stores, small boutiques, everywhere. Everything was either too gaudy, too weird-looking, too large, or just simply not right. There was only one place that they hadn't looked yet—Haruhi's own apartment. In their rush, they had forgotten that Haruhi probably had some jewelry of her own.

The twins simultaneously face-palmed. Why hadn't they thought of that?

They hopped back into their limo and told the driver to go back to Haruhi's apartment. With any luck, they would be able to find something there.

* * *

><p>When they got back to the apartment, they found Ranka in a pile of shoes and Haruhi napping in her room.<p>

"Hey, Ranka... does Haruhi have any jewelry that would go well with the dress?"

Ranka put his hand on his chin in thought. "I think I might have a few things of Kotoko's that might work. Let me go find them." He went off into his own room, and came back with a small box. "Here, you can look through this. I don't think I need to remind you to be EXCEEDINGLY GENTLE or I will RIP YOUR HEADS OFF WITH MY BARE HANDS," Ranka said, with a polite smile.

Slightly perturbed, the twins opened the box. Inside was a small collection of simple, but still beautiful jewelry. Just by looking, they could tell that Haruhi's mother had similar tastes to her own. They selected simple diamond studs earrings, and a matching pendant. Kaoru gave the box back to Ranka, while Hikaru tiptoed into Haruhi's room to try and see if she was awake.

* * *

><p><em>"I love you, Haruhi, and I will forever. Why can't you see that?"<em>

_ Hikaru had been following her, trying to understand why she didn't love him the same way he did. She couldn't understand, it wasn't like he really did feel that way. She knew how he was, and she didn't think he was truly capable of loving her like the way he said._

_ "What can I do, Haruhi? What can I do to prove it to you?" he asked. With every word he spoke, she could hear his heart breaking. _

_ But he would recover, she was certain. She thought that he was probably just confused, mixing up his feelings of friendship for feelings of love._

_ "Haruhi, wait! Don't walk away from me! Haruhi! Haruhi! HARUHI!..."_

"Wake up."


	6. The Departure

**A/N**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.**

* * *

><p>Haruhi blinked.<p>

"Hi...ka...ru?" she mumbled sleepily, as she got up and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey Haruhi, we found some jewelry and stuff for you, get out of bed." Hikaru smirked. "You wouldn't wanna miss your date, would you?"

Haruhi shot up. _Dammit._ She had almost forgotten, in part because of the dress of the day, and in part because of the dream. _Hikaru…_ she thought. She knew that he was very friendly with her, but did he like her romantically? Some of the signs were there, but she just didn't know…

She eyed the jewelry in Hikaru's hands, recognizing it as her mother's. Ranka had probably let them look through Kotoko's jewelry collection in order to find Haruhi some jewelry to go with the dress.

"Come on, Haruhi, we need to get you dressed! Arai's picking you up, right?"

She nodded. She got out of bed, and Hikaru lifted up the dress for her. "Get changed. I'll be out in the living room with Kaoru and your dad if you need anything."

He left, and Haruhi picked up the dress from where he placed the dress on her bed. She sighed. She was nervous, which was really strange. She usually wasn't nervous around Arai. Maybe it was the whole 'formal' thing.

She slipped the dress on, and walked to the doorway of her room. She found a pair of shoes there, no doubt chosen by Ranka. She also found the jewelry Hikaru had showed her placed on her nightstand. She put the earrings and necklace on, then slipped on the heels, and walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>Once Haruhi had opened the door of her room, Kaoru and Hikaru whistled appreciatively at the same time. Ranka looked at her starry-eyed, as if she was the most beautiful girl ever. She blushed at them, slightly embarrassed at the attention they were giving her.<p>

"Haruhi, you look amazing," Kaoru said, the first of them to come back to their senses.

"Yeah, Haruhi, perfect!" Hikaru agreed.

"It's a good thing the boss isn't here, or else he would pull some 'my daughter is so beautiful' nonsense," they deadpanned in unison.

What the twins had forgotten, however, was that there was someone in that room with a personality remarkably similar to Tamaki, and that Haruhi would have a much harder time fighting off this person…

"OH MY GOODNESS, MY DAUGHTER IS SO BEAUTIFUL!" Ranka exclaimed as he rushed over to Haruhi and swung her around.

"Dad… get… off…" she mumbled listlessly.

"I guess we forgot that Ranka might be worse than Tamaki with these things…" the twins said, and shrugged.

"Hm… Hikaru, Kaoru, should we put makeup on Haruhi or not?" Ranka asked, temporarily putting Haruhi down as he turned to look at them.

"N. O." Haruhi made an 'X' with her arms in front of her. "I've already put up with all this, I don't want to deal with any makeup."

The twins and Ranka signed resignedly. "Fine…" they all grumbled, thoroughly depressed.

The doorbell rang, startling all of them from their positions in the living room. Ranka went to open the door.

The twins and Haruhi walked to the doorway to try and figure out who it was…

…but for some reason, Kyoya was standing there, rather than Arai, who they were expecting.

"Kyoya-senpai? What are you doing here?" Haruhi asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing, I just came to drop something off." He pointed to a brown paper bag in Ranka's hand. "I'll be off now. See you later, Haruhi." With that, he turned and left.

"Well that was rude," Hikaru said.

"He didn't even say hi to us," Kaoru continued.

* * *

><p>Ranka had just shut the door when the doorbell rang again. This time, it was Arai, wearing a simple black suit and tie, and a white dress shirt.<p>

"I came to pick Haruhi up…" he said.

"Oh, I'm right here! Just wait a sec so I can grab my bag…" Haruhi mumbled hastily as she looked for a purse to bring.

Ranka held up a small silvery bag. "Right here, sweetie, all ready to go," he said, winking.

"Oh, thanks dad," she said and walked to the doorway. "Ready, Arai?"

Arai stood at the doorway, speechless. He thought, in that moment that Haruhi was the most beautiful girl he had ever met. He had often thought it before, but seeing her now just planted the idea in his mind even more. There was no one on the world that he would rather have with him that moment…

* * *

><p>"Hello? Hello? Are you alive, there, Arai?" Haruhi was frantically waving her hand in front of his face, as he had not moved for the past several minutes.<p>

"Oh. Sorry..." he mumbled. "Let's go."

"Haruhi, try to be back before midnight?" Ranka asked as she started out the door.

"I'll do my best, Fujioka-san," Arai replied, as he took Haruhi's hand.

"Oh Arai, for the last time, just call me Ranka!" he exclaimed. "Bye now! Have fun!" He waved, and shut the door.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the twins were in the kitchen, Hikaru in a bit of an angry rage, and Kaoru holding him back from storming in front of Arai and giving him some choice insults.<p>

Kaoru sighed. _This was going to be a long evening..._


	7. A Date and A Farewell

**A/N**

**OMG. THIS CHAPTER. it made me feel so sad while i was writing it (as you will see shortly)  
>there's a big twist in here, that may-or-may-not completely throw off your perception of the story thus far<br>it is very important, and has a very dark mood to it, but i hope that there was enough fluffy romantic bits for you ^^**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.**

* * *

><p>Haruhi sat next to Arai in his car, positively nervous. She didn't quite know why, but she was nervous all the same.<p>

He seemed to sense her feelings, and he reached down and squeezed her hand once before putting it back on the wheel, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't be so nervous, it'll be fine…" he said.

If only his words could magically wish away the feeling in her stomach that told her something was going to be wrong.

* * *

><p>They arrived at the restaurant. Arai handed the keys to his silver Lexus to the blonde valet, and he took Haruhi's hand in his own.<p>

"Ready?" he asked, and smiled. That smile had been one of the reasons why she had fallen in love with him…

They entered the restaurant, and Arai said something to the maître'd. He nodded, and stretched his arm out in a different direction than most of the diners.

_Is that me, or did the maître'd look a lot like Kyoya-senpai…?_ Haruhi thought as she followed Arai. Granted, he hadn't been wearing glasses, but his overall demeanor felt familiar for some reason…

* * *

><p>Outside the restaurant, the valet, the security, and two redheads grouped together in the valet room. After a few minutes, they were joined by the maître'd. He pulled a pair of glasses, and put them on as he sat down.<p>

"Well, gentlemen, if all goes well, our plan to make Haruhi happy will be complete," the valet announced to the small, motley group.

"I just hope Haru-chan isn't too sad after today…" the small security guard murmured, looking down at the ground.

"Mhm," the tall one agreed, placing an arm around his small companion.

* * *

><p>"Arai, you never did mention who got you the reservation for this," Haruhi remarked as she bit into a piece of toro sashimi.<p>

"Err…" he mumbled, shoving a forkful of meat into his mouth so he wouldn't have to answer her.

"Also, didn't the valet seem to look a bit like Tamaki-senpai to you?"

Arai swallowed nervously.

"I don't know why, but ever since you asked me on this date, I've been feeling increasingly nervous," Haruhi said, looking down at her plate. A twinge of sadness filled her voice.

Arai sighed. There was no easy way to do this.

"Haruhi…" he said, reaching out and placing his hands on top of hers. "Do you know why I brought you here?"

Haruhi looked up at him. "There are several reasons I can think of, but none are probably correct."

"Haruhi… the truth is, I'm leaving."

"What?"

Arai's heart broke inside him as he continued. "My father got transferred to a different sector of the company, and my family has to relocate as a result."

"Where?" Haruhi was almost scared to find out the answer.

"America."

"When?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Things clicked in Haruhi's mind. This explained why Arai had put much more effort into their English class, and how he had always pushed her to practice conversations with him…

She blinked back tears. "Really?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry Haruhi."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

He got up, and pulled her into an embrace. "There's another reason why I brought you here today."

Arai pulled her over to the window. "Look outside."

Haruhi looked out of the glass wall-window, and saw lights on the ground below them. It spelled out "I love you" inside a heart, in twinkling white lights.

Her eyes filled with tears. She had never felt so happy and so sad at the same time before. She turned back to Arai, who also appeared to have tears in his eyes, but he kept blinking them back (probably trying to keep his macho-manly image).

Arai pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small black box. He held Haruhi's right hand, and knelt down.

"Haruhi, would you still be my girlfriend, even though I may be across the sea, even though I may not be with you in person, will you allow me to stay in your heart?" He opened the box, and a simple silver band lay inside.

Two twin lines of tears began to trace their way down Haruhi's cheeks. "Yes."

He took the ring out of the box, and slid it onto her right ring finger. "I know you probably can't wear this during school, so I got a chain to go with it so you can wear it around your neck." He gave her the box, which also contained a thin silver chain.

She almost launched herself at Arai, pulling him into a tight hug and burying her face in his chest, letting the tears flow freely now. Tears started to leak out of Arai's own eyes, and he pulled Haruhi in and stroked her hair.

"Arai…" she sniffed. She didn't want him to go. No girl would want her boyfriend to go. And with the news that he was moving, she knew a breakup was almost inevitable. He was the first person who had brought true happiness into her life, and she was going to lose him.

She pulled away from his chest, and looked up at him. A small, sad smile graced his lips, a few tears trailing down the side of his face.

Suddenly, it hit her. "Isn't today Christmas?" she asked. With everything that had gone on today, she had nearly forgotten.

"Yeah," Arai said. He smirked for a moment.

Before Haruhi could ask him what the smirk was for, he tilted her head up, and pressed his lips to his.

She closed her eyes. He tasted of sweetness, sincerity, and love. The kiss was so sweet; she wanted it to last forever. It made her feel like all her worries went away, even after what had just happened. Haruhi wound her fingers in Arai's hair, and pulled him closer.

Too soon, he pulled away. They gazed into each others' eyes, and somehow, she knew everything was going to be okay. How, she wasn't quite sure. But she was sure that everything would work out.

"Merry Christmas, Arai."

"Merry Christmas, Haruhi."

"I love you."

"I love you."


	8. Aftermath of Farewell

**A/N**

**haruhi may or may not be OOC in this chapter, but her boyfriend just left, she has a right to be depressed. don't worry, she will be back to (somewhat) normal soon.  
><strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>"<em>Haruhi."<em>

"_Senpai?"_

_The blonde knelt down, one of his signature red roses held out in front of him._

_I hope this isn't what I think it is._

"_Will you be mine forever? You know my love will never fade, as long as I live…"_

_No, no, no! This can't be happening!_

"_You know I can't accept."_

_Tears began to flow out of the blonde's eyes, and he looked down at the floor in shame._

"_I'm sorry…"_

* * *

><p>Haruhi awoke, thrashing everywhere and getting tangled in her blanket. She slowly extricated herself, and sat on the side of her bed. She switched her lamp on, and put her head in her hands, feeling a fatigue-induced headache coming on.<p>

It had been three days since Arai had left. Three days since her boyfriend had hopped on a plane that would take him halfway across the world. Three days since the only one she had felt she loved (besides her father) had left her. Three days since her heart had broken.

Haruhi had gone to the airport to see him off. It had taken Ranka, both of Arai's parents, and his older brother to separate them at the security gate. Neither one had wanted to be the first to let go. Tears had fallen freely, all hopes of Arai maintaining his 'manliness' forgotten in the throes of heartbreak. Haruhi had given him a phone strap with a picture of the two of them on it, as a farewell gift. She had worn the ring he had given her the day before, and they had held hands during the whole bus ride and at the airport. The whole time, they both were dreading the departure, and never wanted the other to leave. Call it teenage love, call it hormones, call it a bond that never should have been broken. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was a sad sight to behold for anyone who witnessed their separation that day.

Despite all of Ranka's efforts, she had remained quite morose ever since Arai had left. It was reminding him strikingly of what had happened to her after her mother had died. She only came out of her room to eat, and even that was seldom (sometimes only once a day). She had refused all visits from the host club to try and cheer her up, and it took quite a bit of effort for her to even allow Ranka to come into her room (she had shoved a great number of things against the door). She seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight from her already very thin frame, and had seemingly permanent dark circles under her eyes. And this was only from three days. Ranka was very worried about Haruhi, and didn't know what more would happen…

* * *

><p>After Arai had left, she had suffered nightmares and strange dreams every night. It would either be a dream about Arai breaking up with her, or another host confession. Her latest dream about Tamaki was one of them. The one about Tamaki had been one of the weirdest ones yet, because (to the host club, at least) he was gay and proud of it. Unless he had suddenly had a very severe change of heart and his crush on Kyoya had been banished, that would never happen. In fact, the only plausible (but still highly unlikely) dreams were the ones involving Mori, Kyoya, and Hikaru… Honey was dating Reiko, Kaoru had given up for Hikaru, and Tamaki was just out of the question. But all this had done was addle her already confused and stressed mind even more. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take before she cracked and went insane.<p>

* * *

><p>Haruhi lay back on her bed, and held up her right hand in front of her. For the first time since Arai had given it to her, she took it off to get a better look at it. She ran her thumb over the shiny metal and turned it over in her hands. A hint of something dark caught her eye, and she looked closer at the inside of the band. Inside, there was something engraved…<p>

_ Forever love. February 4__th__, 2010._

It was the date that he had confessed to her (again), her birthday one year ago. Haruhi's eyes filled with tears again. She would spend this New Year's alone instead of kissing her boyfriend as the year changed, what would have been their second anniversary AND her birthday alone instead of being with her boyfriend like it should have been, Valentine's Day alone instead if being with her own Valentine, next Christmas alone instead of another romantic date…

She shook her head. She would NOT be alone. He was still with her, just not in person…

_That's the same thing as being alone_, the emo mopey voice in her head said.

_No it's not_, her optimistic voice argued.

While the two parts of her mind were arguing, Haruhi decided to go back to sleep, seeing as it was four in the morning and she really needed sleep. She had begun to feel the lack of sleep catching up to her, and slumped back onto her pillow, desperately craving one of the things she had not gotten for three days.


	9. Arai's Confession

**A/N**

**here we begin the real meat of the story: who from the host club will win haruhi's heart?**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>Ranka was watching the morning news, when the doorbell rang. He rushed over to the door, curious as to who it was. He wasn't expecting company. When he opened the door, the six boys of the host club were outside.<p>

"Ranka, I am terribly sorry to intrude on you like this, but there are some things we simply must discuss soon," Kyoya said.

"I... see..." Ranka said. "Come in, then."

Something about Kyoya's overall demeanor made Ranka a little worried, and he even forgot to be mean to Tamaki.

They all sat down at the small living room table. "Ranka, could you please get the package I gave you the other day?" Kyoya asked.

"Yes, of course." Ranka got up, and went to his room to retrieve it.

Kyoya brought out his laptop, and a manila folder with some papers in it. He opened the folder, and took out an envelope. Ranka immediately recognized Arai's handwriting on the front, reading 'To the Host Club and Fujioka-san. Please don't let Haruhi see this until she is ready'

"I have not yet opened this envelope. Arai entrusted it to me before he left. I wanted to wait until a sufficient time has passed before opening it, and until we could all meet together," Kyoya said.

"I see," Ranka said. "May I open it?"

"Feel free to do the honors."

The host club crowded around Ranka as he opened the envelope. He pulled out a single sheet of paper, and began to read aloud:

_Dear Fujioka-san, Morinozuka-san, Haninozuka-san, Ohtori-san, Suoh-san, and the Hitachiins,_

_ I suppose you're probably wondering why I'm writing this. Well, I recently found out that I'm going to have to move. Where, you might ask? America. Isn't that just great._

_ I'm writing this letter to say this: I know that my relationship with Haruhi may not last very long now. From everything I've ever heard, long-distance relationships never last long, and I'm just trying to keep this going as long as I can. _

_ I love Haruhi. And I want her to be happy. So I thought that the best way for her to be happy was to be with one of the host club members. I've seen how you all interact with her, and I know she cares for you deeply. Think of this letter as my permission for one of you to date her. I don't want her to become lonely and continue to pine over me._

_ I guess for all intents and purposes, we are still together. But if she expresses interest in on of you, or vice versa, do not hesitate to act upon it. Just tell me if any of you get together._

_ Haruhi's a smart girl, she'll probably start thinking something's weird if you all just start going for her, and she's probably gonna say something like 'she's still with me,' when that happens, then show her this. I also have a separate letter that I told Fujioka-san to give to her when this happens. I hope Ohtori-san gave Fujioka-san the package. _

_ I thank you deeply for this, from the bottom of my heart._

_ -Arai_

After Ranka finished reading, Kyoya opened the folder. Inside, there was a list of things Haruhi liked and disliked, suggestions of things they had wanted to do but hadn't had the opportunity to do, and his contact information.

"Wow, Arai's nicer than I thought," Hikaru said. He never thought that Arai would actually do this kind of thing.

"Yeah, none of us were expecting this," Kaoru agreed.

"Well, me and Tama-chan are out of the running for this," Hunny said. Hunny was dating Reiko Kanazuki from the Black Magic Club, and Tamaki wasn't interested.

_Why isn't that blonde idiot interested...?_ Ranka thought.

"So that leaves me, Kaoru, Mori-senpai, and Kyoya-senpai..." Hikaru counted off on his fingers.

"Hika, I'm going to back out on this one, I think," Kaoru said.

"Really, Kao?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," Kaoru replied.

"Remember, I am most certainly not going to go easy on all of you," Kyoya stated calmly.

"Me neither," Mori agreed.

_Let the battle begin._

* * *

><p>When Haruhi woke up again, there was light streaming through in window. She rubbed her eyes, and looked at the clock, the red digital numbers reading '12:06.' She groaned. She had lost most of her sense of time over the past several days.<p>

She stretched, and got out of bed. She heard voices in the living room, and knew immediately that there were too many voices for it just to be her dad. _He must have company over..._ Haruhi thought.

Haruhi opened up her closet, and pulled out a soft white t-shirt that used to belong to her mother, and a pair of dark grey sweatpants. She opened the door to her room, and walked out to see who it was.

* * *

><p>She was immediately glomped by a blonde whirlwind that twirled her around twice before she finally felt her feet touch the floor again. <em>Tamaki...<em> she grumbled inside her mind.

Tamaki was suddenly ripped away from her and thrown on the floor, her father angrily stomping on his back.

"DONT." _stomp_. "YOU." _stomp_. "DARE." _stomp_. "MOLEST." _stomp_. "MY." _stomp_. "DAUGHTER!" _stompstompstompstomp_.

"Dad, you're going to kill him, calm down!" Haruhi exclaimed.

Ranka looked at her incredulously. This was the most she had spoken since Arai had left, and the most emotion, too. "You're defending this idiot?"

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Yes, dad, even though he is an idiot, he is one of my friends, and I don't think the chairman of Ouran would be very happy to find out that you've just murdered his only child."

Ranka reluctantly stopped stomping on Tamaki, who lay in a heap on the floor.

"In any case, why are all of you guys here?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, as you probably know, New Year's eve is tomorrow and Tamaki is having a party," Kyoya spoke, pulling out his notebook. "So, we came here to inform you and help you prepare for the party."

"Wait... Dad, how long have I been sleeping?" Haruhi asked, trying to count the days in her head.

"Hm... actually, I don't know," Ranka said. "But you should eat something. Hunny brought lots of cake!"

"Why am I not surprised..." she muttered, as she walked into the kitchen in search of food.

* * *

><p>She came back with a large slice of strawberry cake and a cup of tea for herself. She dug in with gusto, and Kyoya continued what he was saying before.<p>

"As I was saying, Tamaki is going to have a New Year's party. As part of the host club, you are invited and required to come. The twins will get you something to wear."

"Wait. What?" she asked. "Why do I have to go to a damn party?"

"Please, Haru-chan, it'll be fun!" Hunny said, as he eyed her cake and tried to hold back from just chomping the whole thing down.

"Mitsukuni, don't eat her cake," Mori said. As usual, he seemed to know exactly what Hunny was thinking.

Haruhi sighed. "Fine, I'll go. Does it have to be fancy?"

The twins grinned devilishly. "Why, Haruhi, if it wasn't, we wouldn't be able to see you in a dress!"

Haruhi stabbed the cake in front of her viciously, grumbling something along the lines of _'rich bastards...'_

"We will come pick you up at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, the twins will probably come earlier to help you with your dress." Kyoya said.

Tamaki hugged her. "Yay, my daughter is coming to the New Year's party!"

Ranka's eye twitched. "You have five seconds to let go," he hissed, holding up his fist.

"Dad, he's not going to kill me, it's perfectly fine. At least he's not twirling me," Haruhi said.

Ranka reluctantly backed down. "Fine then," he grumbled, giving Tamaki a dirty look.

"Come on guys, we should leave now and let Haruhi rest," Kaoru said. "She's gonna need it for tomorrow anyways."

The host club got up and headed for the door and filed out. "See you tomorrow, Haruhi," Mori said, the last to leave.

"See you, Mori-senpai."

* * *

><p>Haruhi slumped on the sofa. Apparently, after sleeping for a few days straight, she now had a party to attend. <em>Just great<em>, she thought, and sighed.

She would probably have been spending New Year's with the host club anyways, but Arai probably would have been by her side, and they would have kissed at midnight like all the other couples. But instead, he was gone and she would be stuck with the host club on her own...

She shook her head. She needed to stop moping, she knew Arai wouldn't want that.

Haruhi walked back to her room. To her surprise, there was a note card there, like the ones Arai always used. Her name was written on it in Arai's familiar script. She opened the card.

_Haruhi, if you are reading this, then I've left and your dad thinks you're moping too much. I left this with him to give to you._

_ I don't want you to be too sad that I'm gone. It's not like we're never going to see each other again, I'm pretty sure I'm going to come at least twice a year._

_ Hopefully the host club will keep you in high spirits, and I hope Hikaru isn't too mad about all this. I would hate for you to lose a friend because of me._

_ I wish you happiness and luck in the new year. I wish I could be with you :/_

_ Love you always, don't cry,_

_ Arai_

Haruhi folded the card back up and placed it in her box. She sat on her bed, and leaned against the wall. She decided that she would do her best to go back to how things were. _Honestly, I don't think being mopey is my thing,_ she thought. _Besides, if I go mopey, then only Kyoya-senpai will be around to keep the host club in check and then he would probably raise my debt a LOT._

* * *

><p>Ranka sat in his own room, pondering over Arai's letter. As Haruhi's father, he was determined to make sure that everything was okay and that she would still be happy. He had already decided that he wanted either Mori or Kyoya to be her boyfriend. Of course, he would TRY not to influence her too much... maybe.<p> 


	10. Tamaki's New Year's Eve Party

**A/N**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>At 2:30 on the afternoon of New Year's eve, the twins rang the doorbell. Unlike when they hauled over a giant collection of clothes for Haruhi's Christmas date, they only had one dress, a pair of shoes, and a purse with them. Ranka quickly let them in, and offered them some tea, and leftover cake from their visit the day before.<p>

"Hey Ranka, here's Haruhi's dress and stuff. We are 100% sure that it will be ab-so-lute-ly perfect, so don't worry. If it doesn't work..." Hikaru said, quickly downing the tea.

"...then just call us and we'll be right over. I don't think anything's gonna happen though," Kaoru continued, stealing Hikaru' cake as he looked the other way.

"Bye now!" they called in unison, and left.

Ranka shook his head in slight amazement. The twins always seemed to confuse him every time they met. He opened up the garment bag to see the dress inside.

It was a deep burgundy-wine colored dress, made of satin. It was strapless (_Oh dear lord how am I going to get Haruhi into this dress... _Ranka thought), and had a long hem, presumably floor-length. There was some ruching at the bust and waist. Ranka thought it was an incredibly beautiful dress, and prayed that he would be able to see Haruhi in it.

The rest of the host club, was already at Suoh Mansion 2, setting up for the party. They would be using the smaller ballroom for the main part of the party, and then move to one of the balcony rooms to watch the fireworks. Of course, the best location for viewing had already been chosen by Kyoya and Hunny, after numerous days of calculating angles and 'other nonsense' that nobody else really cared about. They were already dressed in their suits; Tamaki wore a dark grey suit with a white shirt and a black tie, Kyoya wore all black except for his white tie (Tamaki had forced him to change it; he didn't like the all-black.), Mori, Hunny, and the twins all wore black suits with white shirts; Mori wore a black tie, Hunny wore a pink one, and the twins wore red.

Kyoya had called in the orders for the assorted food, making sure to place an extra order of toro for Haruhi. Mori brought out tables, and the twins took charge of picking music. Tamaki took out some of his 'commoners snacks,' and Hunny started eating his appetizer cake.

At 4:00, they all got into one of the Suoh limousines, and Tamaki told the driver to head over to Haruhi's apartment.

"Dad, are you freaking kidding me? I am NOT going to wear a strapless dress," Haruhi grumbled. She had taken one look at the dress and immediately started freaking out.

"Honey, this is the only one the twins brought, you're going to have to wear it!" Ranka argued.

"Screw this, I'm just gonna go in jeans..." she grumbled, storming off to her room.

"NOO! COME BACK, HARUHI!"

After about an hour of Ranka pleading and Haruhi arguing, she finally consented to wear the dress. As the twins had predicted, she looked perfect in it. They had also given Ranka ruby studs and a necklace for Haruhi to wear with the dress, similar in style to the jewelry that they had seen in her mother's collection.

At exactly 4:30, the doorbell rang. Ranka got up to open the door, and to nobody's surprise, there were six handsome, well dressed young men outside the door. "Haruhi! The boys are here!"

"Coming, coming..." she grumbled.

All of the host club members were stunned.

_My daughter is so beautiful..._

_ Yes, I definitely made a good choice in a woman. I'm quite glad my father approves._

_ Beautiful..._

_ Haru-chan is so cute!_

_ Damn! I knew that dress was perfect._

_ You said it, Hika._

_ Wait, what?_

The ride to Suoh Mansion 2 was, to say the least, awkward. Haruhi really didn't know what to say to any of them, and nobody else really felt like making much conversation. All of them thought of different conversation starters in their minds, but nobody had the courage to voice it aloud first.

When they finally got to the mansion, Haruhi was relieved. Mori helped her out of the car, and they both felt a tingle in their hands when they touched (both passed it off to static, never minding that there wasn't anything that could caused the static anywhere in the car.)

They all headed to the ballroom, where the food had already arrived. They sat down at a medium-sized table in the middle, and the food was served.

They started off with a small serving of traditional _toshikoshi soba_, and _mochi _soup. Then they each had their own individual courses; Tamaki had French food, Kyoya had steak, Mori had some traditional food that Haruhi couldn't name, Hunny had cake, the twins had some absurdly spicy food, and Haruhi had her love: toro. When the butler brought her the plate, piled high with her favorite food, her eyes seemingly had hearts appear in them. Mori, Kyoya, and Hikaru all groaned internally. _Why couldn't she look at ME that way?_ they thought.

Once they finished eating, the table was moved to the side, and some light instrumental music began to play.

"May I have this dance, Haruhi?" Hikaru asked, the first by her side. He had a slight gleam in his eyes.

"Sure," she said. _How are we supposed to have a dance when I'm the only girl here...?_

Kyoya shot him a dirty look when Haruhi wasn't looking. _Damn you, Hitachiin._

The night was a tad uneventful, however Haruhi found it very interesting how Tamaki kept trying to get Kyoya to dance with him. She danced with all the host members, interested in each of their dancing styles. She felt that Mori was very protective and masculine, Kyoya was more graceful than she had thought, Hikaru and Kaoru were equally bad, and Tamaki and Hunny just wanted to spin her around.

When it was finally almost midnight, they all walked over to the balcony. The fireworks started exploding, a dizzying array of colors and sparkles in the night.

While Haruhi watched, starstruck, Kyoya sidled over to her and took her hand in his. She was so startled, that she didn't even push him away. She stood there next to him as they watched.

This gesture did not go unnoticed by the other host members, Hikaru and Mori especially. They were both fuming with envy, as they wanted to be the one standing next to her. Both of them walked closer, unnoticed by the others.

The clock finally struck twelve, and all over the country, bells were chiming to mark the start of the New Year.

"Happy New Year, Haruhi." She heard a seductive whisper in her ear.


	11. Kisses at New Year's

**A/N**

**kyoya may be slightly ooc in this, apologies.  
>we also see very little of haruhi in this chapter, but there will be more next chapter! don't worry :)<strong>

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>"Yeah, Happy New—" she began, smiling and turning to face him.<p>

She was abruptly cut off by the firm press of his lips against hers. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him in closer.

"Hey! Get a room! There's tons of them here!" Kaoru grumbled.

Kaoru's voice seemed to bring Haruhi back to her senses, as she pushed Mori back, covered her mouth, and immediately blushed a bright red.

"M-M-MORI-SENPAI I'M SORRY!" Haruhi stammered as she ran off.

_How in the world did she manage to run off in her heels...?_ The rational part of Mori's mind thought. But that thought quickly faded as he yawned.

"Oh, I think we should go now. Takashi's getting sleepy," Hunny said. He had seen everything while restraining Kyoya from trying to murder Mori (not that he would have succeeded).

"Alright then," Tamaki agreed. He was helping Hunny restrain Kyoya, and watched as Kaoru single-handedly pinned his brother on the floor while he sat on him.

"Kao...ru...get...off...me..." Hikaru grunted as he tried to shove Kaoru off of him.

"No, you idiot, I'm not letting you try to kill Mori, not that you would actually be able to."

"HUNNY, TAMAKI, LET GO OF ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" Kyoya was seriously losing it as he thrashed against the two blondes. Nobody had ever seen him this crazy. Out of Kyoya and Hikaru, most people would have thought that Hikaru would have been the one to blow up...

_Demon lord unleashed?_ They all thought. Even Hikaru stopped struggling and watched Kyoya. Kaoru let him get up, but still kept his hand around Hikaru's arm in case he tried something.

"Takashi, maybe you should wait until Kyo-chan calms down before we leave?" Hunny suggested.

"Sure..." Mori mumbled. He stumbled over to a nearby sofa (_now how did THAT get there? _ everyone thought), and he collapsed on it. Soft snoring was immediately heard.

Kyoya was still fighting Tamaki and Hunny, fueled by insane rage, while Hikaru had given up due to the fact the Hunny would kill him if he killed Mori while he slept. The twins went over to help their senpais restrain the demon lord, as he threatened to break free any moment.

"Hunny-senpai, should we—oof!" Tamaki began to ask, narrowly missing one of Kyoya's uppercuts.

"—knock him out, perhaps?" he continued.

Hunny didn't need to be told twice, as he clambered onto Kyoya's shoulders and pressed a pressure point on his neck. Kyoya tried to fight him off, but was too slow, and he collapsed with a whisper of "my... father... will... kill... you..."

* * *

><p>Hikaru was the first one to break the silence. "Well that was dramatic and all, but where did Haruhi go?"<p>

"MY DAUGHTER HAS GONE MISSING AND WE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE?" Tamaki exclaimed. He started running off... somewhere.

"Looks like the boss doesn't even know what the hell he's doing," Kaoru grumbled.

"No shit, bro. Let's go find Haruhi before he does," Hikaru said, and they ran off together in search of Haruhi.

"Nobody seems to care about me, do they..." Hunny sighed as he sat down on the sofa to watch over the two unconscious hosts.

* * *

><p>Hours passed, but nobody could seem to find Haruhi. They all came back to the ballroom; Mori had awoken, but Kyoya was still out cold.<p>

"Mori-senpai! Do you remember anything?" Tamaki asked.

He shook his head groggily. "No... should I?"

They all groaned. Mori was infamous for his fits of flirtiness while he was drowsy, but after he woke up again, he couldn't remember anything. Hunny especially thought it was sad, because he knew it was his cousin's first kiss.

An older man in a black suit walked up and bowed. "Suoh-sama, I was instructed by a young woman with short hair to tell you that she had gone home. Your father arranged one of the limousines to take her home."

"Thank you, Sato-san. We were wondering where she was," Tamaki replied, bowing slightly to the older man. "When did she leave?" he asked.

"Around 12:10 I would assume, I would have told you earlier but you were nowhere to be found, Suoh-sama."

"Ah, I see..." Tamaki said. "Oh, can you please arrange a limousine for Kyoya?"

"Yes, Suoh-sama." The butler gave another bow, and departed.

"Well, now we know where Haru-chan went," Hunny said, glomping his bunny.

"Hey boss, why did you only call a limo for Kyoya-senpai?" Kaoru asked.

"Because I think it would be unwise if he spent the night, he would probably try to beat Mori-senpai up," Tamaki said. "If you like, I can call limos for you too."

"Nah, its good. We wanna stay here," Hikaru said, pulling his twin closer to him. "Plus, it's like three in the morning. I need to crash."

A maid popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. "Hitachiin-sama, if you would kindly follow me, I can take you to the bathrooms. Morinozuka-sama, Haninozuka-sama, you are welcome to come as well."

"'Kay, thanks, Shima" Kaoru replied, stifling a yawn. He and Hikaru followed her out of the room.

"Tama-chan, we'll stay with you for a little longer in case Kyo-chan wakes up," Hunny said.

"Yeah," Mori agreed.

They helped carry Kyoya downstairs, where a car awaited them. "I told the Ohtoris to expect the car," Sato told them.

"Thank you," Tamaki said, and they 'gently' put Kyoya in the car. "With any luck he won't wake up until he gets home. Even though he's my best friend, I don't know what I would do with his thrashing about. He's much stronger than me if he really has to be."

"Mitsukuni, you know you're quite charming, right?" Mori said as he yawned.

"Oh, no," Hunny said. "We should get him off to bed. Do you mind if we stay over? I think if we went home now, Takashi would be trying to hit on me during the whole ride."

"Sure, so problem. Just follow me and I'll show you the bathrooms," Tamaki said, and they walked off.

* * *

><p>"MORI IMMA KILL YOU!" Kyoya shouted, fighting a massive battle (and losing) to his bedsheets.<p>

"Kyoya, calm down. You don't really want to kill Mori, do you?" a female voice asked him.

"Fu-Fuyumi-neesan? What are you doing in my room?" Kyoya asked, shooting her a dark glance.

She sighed. "Oh, Kyoya, what have you gotten yourself into this time...?"

* * *

><p><strong>POLL RESULTS:<strong>

**2 votes for Mori!**  
><strong>1 vote for Hikaru!<strong>  
><strong>1 vote for Kaoru!<strong>  
><strong>1 vote for Kyoya!<strong>  
><strong>1 vote for Hunny!<strong>  
><strong>and none for Tamaki.<strong>


	12. Hosts React

**A/N**

**characters are probably more than a little ooc, but really, how else are they supposed to react?**

**mori's ringtone and the song tamaki is playing are actually both their character songs, go check them out! theyre pretty good.  
><strong>

**bolded text in the actual chapter is texts from the hosts.**

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>Haruhi sat on her bed in some old sweats, dress discarded in the floor, high heels kicked to the side. She picked at the cuff of her sweatpants, moping. Again.<p>

She felt horrible. On one hand, Mori was a pretty good kisser (for a sleepy guy), and she felt like maybe, just maybe, she had felt a connection with him. On the other, she felt like she was cheating on Arai. She really didn't want to be a cheater.

Her cell phone rang, and she recognized the ringtone, "Always By Your Side," that the twins had set for Mori's ringtone when they had given her the phone. She opened the phone, and quickly hit 'end call,' not wanting to talk to anyone. Once she had opened her phone, however, she saw the masses of unread messages that had accumulated over the past day.

**Your BFFs: HARUHIII ANSWER UR PHONE ALREADYYYYY**

** Mori: haruhi, we need to talk...**

** Hunny: haru-chan, i need to talk to u about mori**

** Daddy: mah darlin daughter, r u k? i heard dat commonerz txted liek dis...**

** Your BFFs: duuuuude moris gettin desperaaaate**

** Your BFFs: PICK UP THE EFFING PHONE, WOMAN!**

The rest of the 1,902 messages were somewhat similar. Haruhi clicked 'delete all,' not bothering to read any more of them after she had read fifty.

She flopped back onto the bed. Come to think of it, she never did tell the host club she was leaving, instead she just left.

* * *

><p><em>She had run up, crying, to the front entrance.<em>

_ "Fujioka-sama, is something wrong?" Shima asked._

_ "No-nothing important. Can you please call me a car to go home?"_

_ "Haruhi, is everything alright? Would you like me to get Tamaki and the others?" Chairman Suoh asked her, walking up._

_ "It's fine, I just need to get home... just tell them I left."_

* * *

><p>She picked up her phone, and sent them all a group text:<p>

**Haruhi: shut up, jeez im fine... stop panicking and ill see u wen school starts again. i dun rly wanna hang out until then. i need some alone time...**

She snapped her phone shut, and pulled out a book from her break reading pile. She had only read two of the three books, and there were only two days left of break. If she sped-read, she would finish it...

* * *

><p>Mori sat on the edge of his bed wearing old sweats, suit thrown on the floor, Hunny sitting in the corner of his room.<p>

"Mitsukuni... what did I do at Tamaki's party?" Mori asked.

"Err... Takashi... well..." Hunny squished his bunny while he deliberated what he should tell Mori.

"Damn it, Mitsukuni, just tell me." Mori's voice hardened perceptively, making Hunny feel nervous. Mori was almost never cross with him, only being strict about his sugar intake and language usage.

"Takashi... just curious, what are your feelings about Haruhi?" Hunny asked his cousin.

Mori raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm just wondering..."

"I think I love her, Mitsukuni."

"Oh... well... Takashi, during Tama-chan's party, you kinda..."

"Tell me."

"Err... you kissed her. On the lips."

Mori threw a pillow across the room, narrowly missing hitting a precariously placed vase.

"Are you fucking kidding me." He phrased it more as a statement than anything, his tone darkening even more.

"Takashi, I thought you would have been happy about that..." Hunny said, confused.

"Why would I be happy not being able to remember my first kiss?"

* * *

><p>"Fuyumi-neesan, why am I here, and where is Mori?" Kyoya asked, slamming his third cup of coffee down on the table.<p>

"Kyoya, Mori is probably at his house, and why WOULDN'T you be at home?" Fuyumi asked.

"Because I need to kill him..." Kyoya grumbled, puring himself another cup of black coffee.

Fuyumi shook her head. "Kyoya, no matter how angry you are at Mori for whatever reason, you cannot get away with murder and Mori would pummel you in an instant."

"The police force can—"

"Didn't Mori defeat your police force once?"

* * *

><p>Tamaki sat at the piano in the ballroom, playing "Guilty Beauty Love." As the final notes faded away, he leaned back and stared out the window. The events of that morning confused him greatly. What were these feelings that he felt when he saw Mori kiss Haruhi? It didn't quite feel like jealousy, not hatred, not love, but... happiness? Why would he feel that?<p>

He sighed. He would never understand love, despite being from one of the most 'romantic' places the Earth had to offer. He leaned down, rubbed Antoinette on the head, and began to play again, somehow lending a melancholy sound to the music.

* * *

><p>"Kao... do you think I stand a chance against Mori-senpai?" Hikaru asked, as he hugged a pillow close to him (a sad replacement for his twin, who had decided to sit far away in case Hikaru had a psycho attack again.)<p>

"Of course you do!" Kaoru said.

"I really don't think so, Mori's a pretty hard opponent to beat..." Hikaru was strangling the pillow, and Kaoru was once again thankful that he wasn't in the pillow's place as he threw it across the room and grabbed another from their giant bed.

"You're devilishly handsome, of course you have a chance," Kaoru said, turning to his desk and continuing his fifty-third sketch idea of Haruhi's wedding dress.

"Kaoru... you know you've just described yourself too?"


	13. Back to Hosting, Part 1

**A/N**

**sorry this chapter is so short, it's more of a transitiony chapter than anything.  
><strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>"Haruhi, you know I love you. Please..."<p>

"Fuck off, SENPAI, you know she's mine."

"According to my calculations, you are incorrect."

"Please, moneygrubber, spare us."

"Why you—just because you make dresses doesn't make you a better man"

"Tell that to your dad when he finds out his son just fired his personal dresser!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

"All of you, shut up! I can't take this anymore!"

"I'm sorry..."

"We never meant to hurt you."

"It's too fucking late for that."

"Don't go..."

"You can't make me stay."

"So it isn't enough for you to break our hearts, you have to rip yourself out of our lives too?"

"If that's what it takes, I will do it."

"Don't do this to me... please..."

"The shadow king on his knees? Pathetic."

"You sunk far lower than I did earlier."

"Quiet..."

"JUST GO AWAY!"


	14. Back to Hosting, Part 2

**A/N**

**this chapter is more haruhi-focused, so you won't get to see much of the host club pov.**  
><strong>and in case you were wondering, yes, mori and hunny are going to graduate. i always thought it was really funny how they never graduated in the manga XD<strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>Haruhi lay in bed, half asleep, when her cell phone went off, playing "Our Love Style." She reached out, and flipped open the phone.<p>

"HA-RU-HIIIII! WAKE UUUUUP!" she heard the twins yelling, even though she was holding the phone a good six inches from her ear.

She slowly brought the phone up to her ear. "Guys... you're really loud. Did you overdose on the maple syrup this morning?"

"WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT~ WE ONLY HAD FIVE SERVINGS OF PANCAKES, NOT EIGHT~" they sang-screamed.

"...don't even THINK about eating any more..." she sighed. If she wasn't awake before, she definitely was now. She got out of bed, got dressed in her (boy's) uniform, and sighed. It seemed like it had been so long since she had last worn it, but it had really only been a few weeks. She could already smell Ranka burning something in the kitchen, and the twins shouting through her phone for her to get up.

* * *

><p>5:30 AM. Kyoya's first alarm clock rang. His hand shot out from underneath his down comforter, grabbing the alarm clock, and hurling it against the wall.<p>

5:40 AM. Kyoya's second alarm clock rang. He grumbled unintelligibly, grabbed the alarm clock, and threw it at the wall.

5:50 AM. Kyoya's third alarm clock went off. He made a growling noise, and ripped the alarm clock out of the wall socket, where it joined the other two.

6:00 AM. Kyoya's fourth alarm clock went off. He sighed, and crushed the alarm clock while trying to press the snooze button.

"SHIT!" he yelled, jumping out of bed. He now had several shards of black plastic embedded in his palm. Not a great way to start the morning.

* * *

><p>"Tamaki-sama, it is time to get up. It would not reflect well on the Suoh family name if the chairman's own son was late after the break..." Shima walked into Tamaki's room, only to find him already dressed and fondly staring at a group picture on the host club that occupied half of one of the gigantic walls of his room.<p>

"Shima... do you get the feeling that the host club might break apart soon?" he asked, as he reached up and touched the side of the picture frame.

"Why on Earth would you ever think that? You are all very close friends, and I don't think anything could tear you apart."

"...never mind, Shima. I'll go down to the car now."

* * *

><p>"...Mitsukuni. It's time to get up." Mori risked his life every day to wake up the small, honey-haired senior.<p>

Hunny opened up one eye. "Go..." Mori heard a rumbling sound, and a dark aura seemed to collect itself around Hunny.

"School. No cake if you don't get up," Mori said simply, and left Hunny's room to go wait in the limo.

* * *

><p>Haruhi met up with Hikaru and Kaoru at their homeroom, where they immediately stood on either side of her and proceeded to harass her.<p>

"So, how's our little toy doing today?" Hikaru asked, brushing his lips just shy of her right cheek.

"You haven't kept in touch with us, we need to know how you've been," Kaoru murmured, repeating the same action as his twin on her left side.

The sounds of fangirls swooning and screaming could be heard all around as they watched the scene unfold before them.

"Guys... I really just want to get to class uninterrupted, is that too much to ask?" she asked them, already knowing the answer.

"Yep!"

* * *

><p>She managed to pass through the rest of the day without much further incident, although it was a little difficult to escape the host club at lunch (she hid near the bathroom, and asked Kasanoda and Nekozawa to distract them while she ate quickly.)<p>

That is, until after school. She had to go back to the host club, or Kyoya would be out for blood (well, maybe just her money.)

She walked through the doors to the music room, and was immediately assaulted by the familiar blizzard of rose petals. She sighed. _Some things never changed_...

"Haruhi, you're late," Kyoya noted, writing in his notebook.

She sighed, and took her requisite place on the couch, a tea set in front of her. A few minutes later, the crowd of girls rushed in, each attaching themselves to their preferred host. Haruhi, naturally, had her own small group of girls that regularly visited her, and she poured tea for them while exchanging light pleasantries.

"So, Haruhi-kun, how was your winter break?" Momoka Kurakano asked.

"Fine, thank you, Kurakano-san. How was yours?"

"Oh, it was amazing." Kurakano then launched into a description of her vacation in the Bahamas, and Haruhi nodded and 'mhm-ed' in all the appropriate places.

* * *

><p>Haruhi had never had a longer day. She could feel the host club's eyes on her the whole day, and it unnerved her. She wanted nothing more than to go back home, and maybe webcam with Arai. She really needed to talk to him about the whole New Year's fiasco...<p>

Before she knew it, she heard Kyoya's voice. "Thank you ladies, but today's host time is up. We hope to see you again soon."

She let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. She could finally go home, relax, and—

"We need to talk."

She looked up, and saw the dark shadow of Mori above her. He seemed even larger than normal, due to the fact that she was still sitting and he was standing in front of her.

"Alright, senpai, would you like to have a seat?"

"Come with me for dinner?" he asked in return.

"Uh... I'm a little busy today..."

"Please," The desperation in Mori's voice was evident. He looked at Haruhi, his normally stoic face was wrought with a pleading expression.

"...alright."

"6:30?"

"Sure. I'll just go home first to get things ready, then you can pick me up."

"I'll give you a ride home."

* * *

><p>"OMG! MY DARLING DAUGHTER IS GOING ON A DATE WITH MORI! THAT BOY IS SO HANDSOME, YOU KNOW, YOU NEED TO WEAR SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL!"<p>

Haruhi rubber her temples, feeling another idiot-induced migraine coming on. "Dad, this is NOT date, he just needs to talk to me."

"BLAH BLAH BLAH I'M NOT LISTENING~ GO GET CHANGED, HARUHI!"

She sighed. Why did she have to be surrounded by overly happy idiots why enjoyed seeing her in dresses?

She went into her room, not even glancing at the dresses that her dad had pulled aside for her, instead going straight to her closet. Seeing as Mori wasn't crazy, like the rest of those host club, she decided to stick with something normal, but still feminine. She picked some black skinny jeans, and a drapey dark blue and silver striped top with long sleeves.

When she walked back out, Mori was in the living room, sitting at the table while her father was talking about some trivial matter. Not surprisingly, Mori didn't say much of anything, just nodding occasionally and making general noises of assent.

"Oh, hey Mori-senpai," she said. "Dad... what are you showin—HOLY SHIT!"

She had just caught sight of numerous childhood photos of her, spread out on the table.

"Oh, Haruhi, I was just showing Mori some of these delightful photos of you! Aren't you just adorable?"

"...no, I'm not. Come on, senpai, we should go..." Haruhi sighed. She would need to get a hold of all of the photos of her, and either burn them or lock them up and bury them somewhere far, far away...


	15. What Happens When Mori Asks A Girl Out

**A/N**

**here's some of the host club's perspectives on mori asking haruhi to dinner.**  
><strong>the 'date' comes next chapter! it really doesn't fit with this one, anyways.<strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>"Takashi, are you sure this is a good idea?" Hunny asked, sitting on a cushion in Mori's room.<p>

"Hm," was Mori's simple reply, as he threw on a white t-shirt, and a navy-and-white plaid flannel shirt on top. He pulled on some black jeans, and a pair of Nikes.

"I just don't want you to lose your chance with Haru-chan!" Hunny said, pulling his bunny close to him.

"It'll be fine."

"Are you sure this is the best way?"

Mori shrugged.

"Takashi, answer me! I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt."

"You know how Kyoya gets..."

"WELL FUCK KYOYA! He's not important."

"...if he heard you say that, you would be dead faster than you can say 'money' and I won't be able to stop him."

* * *

><p>Kyoya sat in his room, typing furiously. A thin sheen of sweat shone on his face, even though the air conditioning was on. He had a look of intense anger an concentration, and grit his teeth while he typed.<p>

"I... will... not... lose..." he murmured, over and over, like a sort of prayer. He had seen Mori ask Haruhi to his house today, and was determined not to lose Haruhi to his ridiculously tall senpai.

"Kyoya? Are you in there, plotting ways to kill Mori again?" He could hear his sister's voice outside his door.

"I'm busy, neesan, go away," he grumbled, enough darkness filling his voice that scared everyone that was in a ten-foot radius of his room.

He went back to furiously typing on his laptop; checking stocks, newspaper articles, email, budgets, his takeover of his father's company...

Suddenly, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID: That Idiot.

He swiftly pressed ignore. He had no desire to talk to Tamaki now, of all times. There were things to be taken care of. Like how exactly to stop Mori from taking Haruhi out on a date.

Suddenly, he stopped. _Why exactly am I doing this again...?_ he thought, pushing up his glasses.

_Because you love Haruhi._

_ Good answer, internal thoughts!_

And thus, the shadow king began to type once more.

* * *

><p>"Kao-kao, don't leave me like the rest of the host club, okay?" Hikaru said, in an attempt at a cute voice while squeezing the life out of Kaoru.<p>

"...can't...breathe...if...you...don't...stop...I'll...die...and...then...I'll...leave..." Kaoru managed to choke out while his twin was squeezing him in the world's tightest bear hug.

Hikaru's arms loosened marginally, and Kaoru sucked in a huge, dramatic breath of air.

"Kaoru, stop exaggerating! You're not going to die!" Hikaru exclaimed.

"I would have if you didn't let go..."

"No you wouldn't."

"Yes I would."

"No you wouldn't."

"Yes I would."

"...I'm the older twin, I'm right and that's final!"

"...shut up."

"Nope!" Hikaru grinned widely, and hugged Kaoru again. Kaoru sighed. Sometimes, there was just no getting out of this stuff.

* * *

><p>Tamaki sat on his bed, his calls rejected by Kyoya for the fifth time. He sighed. Why didn't Kyoya want to talk to him?<p>

He lay back on his bed, and stared up at the tall, white ceiling. Sometimes he felt like the world was just too big.

He thought back to the host club, and how Mori had asked Haruhi to dinner that evening. Was it a date? Was it just a friendly gesture? He didn't even know anymore.

But what confused him the most were these feelings he felt whenever he saw one of the host club members talk to Haruhi. He always felt the desire to rip her away, and hold her close so that none of them could get to her. Surely, these were the normal feelings a father felt, right? He would have to ask Ranka sometime, if he ever managed to be able to stand face-to-face with Ranka for more than one minute without getting insulted or flipped by Haruhi's real father.

Sometimes he wondered why Haruhi always yelled at him for calling himself her father. Obviously, there was no way he could actually be her father. He was only one year older, for crying out loud! But he didn't know how to describe the sort of feelings he had, other than fatherly.

He decided that somehow, he would have to put a stop to all this. More than anything, he valued the 'family' that he had created through the host club. It would all break apart if they started fighting over Haruhi.

"I have decided! From this day forth, I will become Haruhi's protector!" He made a 'brave' sort of pose. He felt that it was his duty, as René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Suoh, he could let no man cross his daughter's path without permission.


	16. Mori and Haruhi's Kinda Date

**A/N**

**in this chapter, we now have mori and haruhi's sorta-date! i hope you enjoy it.**  
><strong>they're probably kind of ooc, and mori does talk a lot more than usual, but he needed to talk!<strong>

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>Mori sat at the table in Haruhi's apartment, listening in silence as Ranka chattered on about Haruhi's childhood. He rather did enjoy all the pictures, even though his face remained impassive during the entire time. No use letting Ranka on about his ulterior motives if he wanted to stay in his good graces.<p>

When Haruhi had come out, it was all he could do to restrain himself from having a Tamaki moment. He thought she was more beautiful in the things she chose to wear than the multitudes of girlish clothing that the twins, Tamaki, and Ranka tried to pick out for her. Whenever they picked something for her, she looked beautiful, but also slightly fake. Whenever she picked her own clothes, he felt that it allowed him to see her inner beauty, not hidden by a mask of makeup and fancy clothes.

"Oh, hey Mori-senpai," she said when she caught sight of him. "Dad... what are you showin—HOLY SHIT!"

Mori turned to her, and her eyes were wide as she stared at the table covered in her pictures.

"Oh, Haruhi, I was just showing Mori some of these delightful photos of you! Aren't you just adorable?" her dad was squealing with delight. _He and Tamaki are so much alike, why does he hate Tamaki so much then...?_

"...no, I'm not. Come on, senpai, we should go..." Haruhi sighed. She looked as though she wanted to murder her father.

"Ok."

* * *

><p>The ride there was awkward, to say the least. As usual, Mori did little and spoke less. Haruhi sat on the opposite side of the limo, unsure of what to do. It was usually pointless to try and start a conversation with him, unless you enjoyed talking to yourself a lot. But the whole reason why he had asked her to come over was to talk... right?<p>

They finally reached Mori's house. Haruhi looked out the window, and was surprised at the appearance. It was an smaller oriental-style building, not like the gigantic mansions that she had seen from the other host club members. The building was larger than most homes, but definitely smaller than the other host club members' homes.

The chauffeur opened the door for her, and Mori held her hand to help her get out of the car. She felt an unexpected, but nice warmth from him. She felt protected, a feeling that she rarely ever felt before. It was a nice feeling. _I could get used to this..._

He led her to a garden in the back of the house. There was an assortment of flowers, and a few bonsai plants placed meticulously around the garden. A small stream flowed through the middle, and a small but sturdy looking footbridge linked the gap between the sides of the stream. There was a fairly large blanket on a small grassy area, and a few lanterns gave the garden a... _romantic look?_ Haruhi thought.

Mori sat down, and motioned for her to do the same. She sat down beside him, albeit slightly hesitantly.

He seemed to sense her wariness. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She smiled at him. Mori-senpai, I think out of all the host club members, you would be the least likely to hurt me. Actually, I usually feel safe around you..."

Mori's face cracked with a hint of a smile, warming his usually stern expression. He took out a small covered dish from a basket next to him, and handed it to Haruhi along with some chopsticks.

She opened the lid and smiled. Toro. Her absolute favorite food in the entire world. And knowing that all of the host club was entirely too wealthy, this toro was most likely of the best quality.

"Thank you, Mori-senpai! I love toro," she said, opening up the disposable chopsticks.

"I know."

* * *

><p>They ate in silence, broken only by the sounds of chewing and other food-eating noises. Once they had both finished, Mori placed both of their dishes in the basket, and turned towards Haruhi.<p>

She had never seen the look in his eyes before; a mixture of warmth, strength, and something that seemed that if someone else touched her, he would kill them.

"Haruhi. About Tamaki's party... I'm very sorry."

"It's alright, Mori-senpai. We all know how you get when you're sleepy..."

"That's not why I'm sorry."

Haruhi looked confused. "Why, then?"

"Because tired or not, I still would have done it. I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable, if I did. I don't want anything to change between us, unless you wish it to." Mori felt like he was killing himself inside, slowly, but he knew that this was the right thing to do. He didn't want to force Haruhi into anything, no matter how much he loved her.

"Mori-senpai, it's alright..."

"No it's not."

"Wait..." it suddenly hit her. _Did he just confess to me...?_

"I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do, just let me know."

"Kiss me again."

"WHAT?"

Haruhi turned to him, and locked him in her gaze. "If you really feel that way, I am perfectly open to see if I feel anything in return."

He nodded once, slowly. "Are you sure? What about Arai...?"

"Knowing him, he probably told one of you guys to pursue me after he left. I know him well. He's not the type that would try and leave me pining for him. He wants me to be happy."

Once again, Mori was surprised by her knowledge of people. She had really hit the nail on the head there, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"Alright then. But just this one time." Even if Arai had given them all permission, it still made him feel slightly off inside, as though he were stealing Haruhi away.

He leaned in, and pressed his lips against hers softly. Even though this was the second time, she felt like it was the first. Haruhi could feel the emotion, the love, and yet also the hesitance. She wound her hands loosely in his hair, and pulled him a little closer.

Mori was a little startled at her touch, but welcomed it all the same. He had no experience with kissing girls, but some instinct took over him, controlling his actions without much conscious thought on his part.

When he finally broke off the kiss, after what seemed like an eternity but was a minute at most, Haruhi blushed and turned away. He waited for her to say something, and when she didn't, he panicked.

"Uh... Haruhi..." he stammered.

"Well, Mori-senpai..." she began.

"Just Mori. Or Takashi. Please."

"Alright then, Mori-se—I mean, Mori," she said, unused to not using an honorific. "I rather liked it."

He fixed her with a dead look. "Seriously."

She laughed, hitting his upper arm lightly. "The look... on your face... AHAHAHAHAHA!"

He raised an eyebrow, completely confused. "O...k... then?"

"In all seriousness though, it was very nice. I would be willing to try this out, if you really wanted to." She had stopped laughing, and gave him a look of her own.

"That would mean a lot to me."

"Hm... what exactly are we now, then?"

"I'm not sure." Mori shrugged. He wrapped one of his arms around her, and pulled her close.

* * *

><p>"Takashi... Morinozuka... I... am... going... to... kill... you..." Kyoya hissed as he watched the live video feed from his computer. Being the Shadow King, he had cameras placed at Mori's house the instant he heard him ask Haruhi over for dinner. But even he couldn't have predicted what would have happened on their 'date' or sorts.<p>

He grabbed something next to him, and threw it at the wall. Too late, he realized that it was a picture of the host club, a picture in which he was standing next to Haruhi, his arm around her. As he bent down to pick up the photo amidst the fragments of glass, he cut his hand. He swore, quite loudly at that. He now had two cuts on his hand, both gotten on the same day. _If karma truly existed,_ he decided, _it really was a bitch._

He clenched his fist, partially in an attempt to stanch the bleeding, partially because he wanted to kill Mori. He knew he stood no chance. But he had to try. The Ohtori family never lost. Ever. And if they did, they sought revenge, and won again. This was a battle he could not afford to lose. If he won, he would get his love. His father's admiration, at long last. Probably the company as well.

And if he lost... he would lose everything. His love. His father's pride. The company. His own pride. The stakes were high, but if he played this right, he would win it all.

Thoughts of victory burning in his mind, Kyoya stomped off to the bathroom to get a bandage for his hand. It wouldn't do for it to get infected. He needed to be in tip-top shape for the battle to come.


	17. I Don't Wanna Break Up

**A/N**

**okay, this chapter is a little depressing. sorry bout that D:**

**ah, congrats to byoken, for being my 50th reviewer ^^**

**i mean no offense to White/Caucasian people with arai's comment later in the story, it is meant as normal dialogue.  
><strong>

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.****

* * *

><p>"Hi dad, I'm home," Haruhi called as she opened the door.<p>

"Oh hi sweetie, how was your evening?" Ranka asked eagerly.

Haruhi gave no answer, instead heading straight for her room. Mori just watched, a slightly bemused expression on his face.

"Well, since Haruhi didn't give me an answer, would you care to?" Ranka asked.

Mori shrugged. He didn't feel like explaining anything. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh, it was great! I kissed your daughter and now we're kind of dating! Shall I also mentioned she still hasn't broken up with her boyfriend yet? So much fun!'

"Mori, you really need to talk more! Oh well, I'll get it out of Haruhi eventually! Would you like to stay the night? It's getting kind of late, anyways," Ranka chattered on as he got out some tea.

"My driver's outside. I should go," Mori mumbled, turning towards the door. "Bye Haruhi," he said, a little louder.

"Bye senpai!" she called from her room.

* * *

><p>"Who was that?" Arai asked, his voice slightly tinny from the headset Haruhi was wearing.<p>

"Oh, it was Mori-senpai..." He noted the blush that colored her cheeks as she said his name.

"You guys hooked up?" He raised an eyebrow.

She bit the inside of her cheek. "No..."

"Ahh, don't lie to me! I can see right through it! And I'm not mad!" There was a silly grin on his face while he said this.

"...eh?"

"Hey, I can't have you getting lonely and sad."

"...I'm fine..."

"I told you, I can see right through your lies. Also, Suoh-san is good for keeping people updated on these types of things.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT BASTARD!"

"Haruhi, is everything ok in there?"

"Yes, dad... goddammit Arai, don't laugh at me."

"But it's so funny..."

"...no it's not... dammit, Arai, stop giving me the watery-eyed-sad-smile. It's too hard to resist."

"Haninozuka-san taught me well."

"I AM GOING TO KILLLLL THEM!"

"Please don't, babe. Anyways, how have things been with your strange group of dudes?"

"Ehh... alright, I suppose..."

"How 'bout Morinozuka-san?"

"Uh..."

"So you DID hook up!" He gave a thumbs-up sign.

"...shut up."

"Hey, Haruhi, I'm super happy for you. Even though I don't know him that well since he's always really quiet, he seems like the kind of guy that'll treat you right. I trust him with you."

"Are you sure you really want to do this?"

"I want you to be happy. If it doesn't work out, I'll always be here for you. Most of these white chicks don't seem to like me too much... keep calling me a chink."

"...don't say that. And I'll see if things with Mori-senpai work out..."

"Just remember, I'll always love you." Arai smiled one of those sweet, heartbreaking smiles that she loved him so much for. She started to tear up a little, and grabbed a tissue from a box on her desk.

"Okay."

"I'm so, so, soooo sorry to leave you like this, but my parents wanna go out and do something. American sightseeing or other... bye." He frowned, obviously not wanting to go.

"Alright then, same time next week?" Haruhi asked.

"Of course."

He logged off, and she leaned back in her chair. She had officially broken up with Arai, but she would still continue to wear the ring, more as a symbol of their friendship than anything. She lifted the chain off her neck, and spun the ring around a few times, and sighed. Some things just hurt, no matter how it was done.

* * *

><p>Mori sat in his room, mindlessly twirling a pencil between his fingers. He was bored, mildly depressed, mildly happy, and mildly an emotion he couldn't quite identify yet.<p>

He heard a knock on his door. "Takashi, it's me."

Mori grunted in affirmation, and his little blonde cousin walked in. He wasn't holding his bunny, which was a big surprise to Mori. He had never seen Hunny without it before.

"Did the date with Haru-chan go well?"

Mori shrugged. "Don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"I just don't."

"Takashi, you can't keep things bottled up inside you all the time."

"That's what I always do, it works."

"It's not good for you. I'm glad you have Haru-chan now, she's good to talk to."

"Hm."

* * *

><p>"Hika, I heard that Mori-senpai and Haruhi went out on a date..."<p>

"Yeah, I know. Hunny-senpai told me. He was freaking ecstatic. Couldn't he be maybe a LITTLE sympathetic?" Hikaru flung something across the room, and Kaoru heard a muted thud where it hit the wall.

"I know it hurts, Hika..."

"I think maybe I'll just stop... I only seem to be hurting her anyways..."

"Really?" His twin didn't surprise him often, but this was new. Hikaru usually never conceded defeat unless it was really necessary.

"I don't want to crush our friendship into a million pieces. There are things that are more important..."

"Awww! My older brother's growing up so fast!"

"CAN IT!" A pillow was thrown at Kaoru's head. He grabbed it swiftly, and hurled it right back, where it hit an unsuspecting Hikaru right in the face.

"Oh, it's on now!" A pillow war soon erupted, and the room soon became filled with feathers, masking the inhabitants from the view of anyone who looked in the window of opened the door.

* * *

><p>Kyoya was angry. Very angry, indeed. Yes, he knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, where the rational thoughts were, that he was being rather unreasonable, but all he could think of at the moment was jealousy. He had loved Haruhi ever since he set eyes on her, even when she was wearing ugly clothes and giant glasses. Nothing mattered more to him than her. He had even confessed before, but it hadn't worked. He needed her. Badly.<p>

He fell onto his bed, and removed his glasses. When he closed his eyes, he could see snippets of possible visions of his future with Haruhi...

...dates, kisses, a proposal...

...white wedding dress, beauty defined...

...two children, both raven haired, one with grey and one with warm brown eyes...

...holding hands, doing nothing...

A single tear traced its way down his cheek, making a small damp splotch on the pillow. More soon followed, each drop a memory that could have been but never would be.


	18. Dark Fights

**A/N**

**another super short chapter, i will probably update again in a few hours.**

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>"Haruhi."<p>

The way he said her voice made her happy, every time he said it. Something in the rich tones in his voice.

She turned to face her raven-haired boyfriend, and hugged him tightly. He returned the gesture, and held her close, even after she pushed back slightly.

He smiled at her, a true smile, something he rarely ever did. She smiled back, and he, too, was filled with happiness that seemed to suffuse his entire soul.

He bent down, and kissed her, invisible sparks flying. She wound her fingers through his hair, pulling them closer and closer together, as though they just couldn't get close enough.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Another black-haired teen stepped out of what seemed to be mist, anger radiating around him like flames.

"S-s-senpai?" Haruhi stuttered, quickly breaking off the kiss.

"I thought you were mine."

"She's mine, bastard, can't you tell?"

"Stop it, both of you!"

"He can't have you, Haruhi, because you're mine," they said simultaneously, each fixing her with a gaze of their own.

One greedy, calculating, but also warm and fearful that the one thing he worked the hardest for would be taken away.

One strong, unwavering, but fearful that he would end up hurting the one thing he wanted to protect the most.

Tears filled her eyes, and she did the one thing she could do without severely hurting either one at that moment.

Run.


	19. Kyoya Makes His Move

**A/N**

**i realized, while rereading through this, that there are quite a few odd gaps in my attempts to make the story match the actual calendar time. after i finish this, i'll probably go back and add in a few chapters to make it more rounded out.**

**i know the last chapter was pretty ambiguous, it's supposed to be that way!  
><strong>

**and dbzzy, to answer your question, it has not yet been decided if this will be a mori/haru fic or not.**

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>Haruhi looked at her wall calendar as she folded over the new month, and sighed. One day until her birthday. The host club probably already knew, but she didn't feel a particular need to tell them, nonetheless. They would probably create a huge spectacle that she would very much rather avoid if possible.<p>

Another glance at the calendar. Eleven days until Valentine's. She wondered if Mori would get something for her, seeing as they were now kinda-sorta-not really dating.

On that subject... how in the world would she be able to tell the host club? Hunny probably already knew, Kyoya probably did too because there was just no hiding anything from him... Tamaki was most likely clueless (as usual) and she had no idea about the twins. She sighed. Why couldn't anything NORMAL ever happen in her life?

There was a knock at her door, three sharp raps. "I'm coming!" she called, and walked towards the door.

She opened the door, and Kyoya stood outside. He was wearing a thick black parka, and the cold wind from outside blew through the open door. Haruhi shivered slightly, as she was only wearing a t-shirt and some thin sweats.

"Senpai? What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you. Can you please let me in? It is quite cold out here, after all." he probably wanted to push up his glasses, as he made an odd jerking motion with his right arm, but seemed to think better of it and kept his hands in his pockets.

"...alright then."

* * *

><p>Kyoya sat at the small table in the living room, allowing the heat from a cup on instant coffee to warm his hands. He stared into the liquid's darkness, the steam fogging up his glasses slightly.<p>

"So, senpai, what are you here for?" As usual, Haruhi wasted no time with pleasantries and cut straight to the point.

He smiled. "It is your birthday tomorrow I believe, I was curious as to whether or not you had plans?"

"I don't have any at the current time, why?"

Kyoya took a small sip of the coffee, deliberating on his choice of words. _Disgusting_, he thought, wrinkling his nose very slightly. He would never understand Tamaki or the twins' fascination with this stuff.

"I was... ah, curious to know, if you would be adverse to spending the day, or part of the day, with me?"

"With the host club?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No, just me."

"Senpai, is this a date?"

"It can be whatever you wish it to be." He smiled mysteriously.

"May I have a little to decide?"

"As you wish, however I would prefer an answer before I leave today."

* * *

><p>Haruhi took her cup into the kitchen. She made herself a new cup of coffee, stirring it slowly as she thought. On one hand... wasn't she going out with Mori? Kinda-sorta-maybe? On the other hand... maybe this was... she shook her head. Sometimes, these boys mystified her.<p>

She added a little bit of milk, and stirred it around a few more times. Suddenly, snatches of a memory from long ago filled her mind, confusing her. She was so close yet so far...

_...wanting to die of embarrassment..._

_ ...growing mushrooms...?_

_ ...was that Kyoya...?_

_ ...HOLY SHIT._

It all came back in a rush.

Kyoya had kissed her. That dream she'd had, so long ago, really was true.

* * *

><p>She walked back to the living room, slowly.<p>

"Senpai."

"Yes?" Kyoya looked up, an unreadable expression on his face, the calm mask he always wore that hid any other emotions he had so very well.

"A long time ago... did you confess to me under less-than-ideal circumstances?"

He paled slightly, and bit the inside of his lip. "What does it matter?"

"It matters to me. Just tell me, senpai."

A thin sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead. "Haruhi, I find it may be a tad too warm in here..."

She sighed. "Stop stalling and give me an answer!"

Kyoya lowered his eyes, staring into his cup again.

"Yes."

* * *

><p>He had been 'kicked out of Haruhi's apartment (she suggested in a rather threatening manner that he leave), and now he lay on his bed, depressed. Again.<p>

There was a sharp rap on the door. "Kyoya-sama, your father requests you in his study immediately."

Kyoya groaned. He had no desire to go talk to his father when he was already in a rather depressed state of mind, and this would probably only make it worse.

"Tell him I'll be up in five minutes."

"Yes, Kyoya-sama."

Kyoya got up and went into his bathroom. He straightened out his slightly rumpled hair, and put on a different shirt. It was time for him to descend into the abyss that was his father's study.

* * *

><p>"Kyoya." The sharp, commanding voice of Yoshio Ohtori greeted him as he stepped through the doorway.<p>

"Father."

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here." Yoshio spun around in that typical, melodramatic way thee boss always did in the movies, slowly in his leather office chair.

Kyoya gave no response, as was typical for these meetings.

"I called you here because of Haruhi Fujioka."

Kyoya kept his face impassive, as he always did. It was a skill he had learned, honed, and mastered well over the years.

"What about her, father?"

"I wish you to court her and make her a member of the Ohtori family."

Kyoya, of course, already knew this, but said nothing. One of the key things about being an Ohtori was never letting on about how much information one knew about a particular subject.

"As you wish, father." At least this was a task he would do for himself, rather than another mindless task he did only because his father asked him to.

"Good. You may leave now, Kyoya."

* * *

><p>Yoshio Ohtori stood up from his office chair, and turned so that he was looking out of the back glass wall of his study. He looked down on the evening Tokyo streets, the cars rushing by, the numerous lights throughout.<p>

He thought of his youngest son, Kyoya. Kyoya was a fine boy; polite, intelligent, unfailingly quick to follow orders, and had a sharp mental capacity. He would make a fine heir, not like his two older sons, who didn't do much besides follow orders mindlessly.

If Kyoya managed to complete this final task, the company was his. He saw how the Fujioka girl and Kyoya acted around each other; seemingly indifferent, but he could see that they both felt some type of more-than-friends attraction. Whether it would become romance was difficult to say. At least he had an ally in Haruhi's father, who shared the same idea as he did that Haruhi and Kyoya would make a wonderful couple.

Yoshio Ohtori sat down and picked up his phone, dialing a number he had dialed so many times before. Perhaps it was time to give Akira Morinozuka a call. He had known for a very long time that Tamaki stood no chance in romancing Haruhi, although it seemed that his own father was oblivious to it all. Takashi Morinozuka had always been the main threat to his master plan, and decided that this needed to be remedied quickly.


	20. Dilemmas

**A/N**

**Happy Haruhi's Birthday! (which i missed by a few minutes as of this writing)**

**and i made up arai's last name, it was never mentioned, so whatever XD**

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>Mori was ascending the stairs to Haruhi's apartment, when his finely honed senses kicked in. he could sense someone standing behind him, but making little noise. Only one person he knew was able to do that.<p>

"Kyoya. What are you doing here?"

Kyoya pushed up his glasses, light reflecting across the glass, hiding his eyes from view. "To see Haruhi. You?" He already knew Mori's answer.

"To see Haruhi as well."

Mori knocked once on the door, and Ranka opened it.

"Mori! Kyoya! How great to see you this morning! If you were here to see Haruhi, she's still asleep, but by all means, please come in. May I offer you some tea?"

"Thank you, that would be most appreciated," Kyoya replied, ever the smooth talker.

The two hosts walked inside, and followed Ranka to the living room table. They took seats opposite each other while Ranka went into the kitchen to fetch the tea.

"I know you're not here just to see Haruhi."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow. Mori usually wasn't so... direct with these sorts of things.

"If you much know, I had a claim on Haruhi far before you did."

"Not my fault she forgot."

Ranka chose this moment to come in with a small tray, bearing three cups of green tea and a small dish of senbei.

"I know the two of you have feelings for my daughter. However, there is one thing I absolutely will not tolerate. If either one of you hurt Haruhi either way, I will not hesitate to take up Chairman Suoh's idea of having Haruhi go to America to study overseas, so she will be away from you and with someone who I know cares for her very much." He gave a threatening glare at both of them, reminding Mori and Kyoya that even though Haruhi's father was a cross-dressing, feminine man, he was still a father and some of those instincts never went away.

"I know." Mori's voice radiated sincerity in his two words, a reminder that even though he spoke little, he always meant everything he said.

"Of course, I would never do anything less." Kyoya smiled amicably. "I have every intention of moving forward with this honorably."

A soft beeping noise could be heard from Haruhi's room.

"Ha~ ru~ hi~" her father called, somehow having an impeccable knowledge of the time she awoke. "There are two veeeeery handsome boys in our living room that want to talk to you~"

"...huh?"

* * *

><p>She got out of bed and changed into something mildly more presentable; loose, black cargo pants and a white t-shirt. She opened the door to her room, and went out into the living room.<p>

There, sitting at the table, were Mori and Kyoya. They were attempting to appear normal, but Haruhi could practically see the tension between the two, and occasionally they would shoot angry glares at each other.

Mori was the first to break the silence. "Haruhi. Happy birthday." He reached into his pocket, and gave her a small envelope. She opened it, and inside there was a plain white card, which she opened.

_Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy your gift._

_ Love always,_

_ Takashi_

There was a gift certificate to the finest sushi bar in town, known for it's top-class toro sashimi.

She smiled widely. "Thank you so much, Mori!"

"I have a gift for you as well, I hope you like it." Kyoya was smiling, but he seemed to be a tad angry that Mori had gone before he did. He gave Haruhi a box slightly larger than the size of a sheet of paper, and about an inch and a half thick.

Curious, she opened the box, and it seemed to contain bubble wrap.

"...senpai, why did you give me bubble wrap?" This was pretty damn cheap, even for Kyoya.

He started laughing. "Haruhi, there is actually something IN that bubble wrap, if you took it out of the box."

"I knew that."

She removed the bubble wrap, exposing a shiny laptop beneath. Carefully, she lifted it out of the box, and saw that it was the latest Kikai-Tekina model that she had been thinking about buying for a while.

"Wow, senpai, thanks! I don't have to somehow pay you back for this, right?"

"No, Haruhi. Why does everyone always assume I'm some kind of debt-collecter who's always out to be cheap and steal people's money?"

"Because you are a debt-collector?"

"Never mind."

"Pwned," Mori muttered under his breath.

* * *

><p>"Haruhi, you never did give me an answer yesterday," Kyoya remarked. They had all spent several hours setting up Haruhi's laptop, and she was testing it out with glee.<p>

"Well, I suppose we could."

"You and Kyoya could... what?" Mori asked.

"Well, Kyoya-senpai asked if I had any plans today, and seeing as I didn't, he wondered if we could go do something together."

Mori usually wasn't one to show rage, but his fist clenched noticeably, the bones and veins standing out from his skin.

"Really now." He fought to keep his voice steady, and his hands from throttling Kyoya right then and there.

"Um... yeah... is there a particular problem with that?" she asked.

_Haruhi... for someone so smart, you can be so clueless_, all the men thought. If Haruhi and Mori were going out, then obviously Mori would have a right to be angry if she decided to go hang out with another guy.

"No..." Mori grumbled. He really didn't have too much of a claim to Haruhi yet, and it would be unwise of him to recklessly assume things that he shouldn't.

"If there are no arguments, Haruhi, do you mind if I come back to pick you up at around five?" Kyoya suggested.

"Sure, that's fine," Haruhi said, a little absentmindedly, as she was thoroughly engrossed in the computer.

"In any case, I believe I will be taking my leave now. Thank you, Ranka, for your hospitality, as usual." Kyoya gave Ranka a smooth 'host smile.'

"Oh, it was no trouble at all! We'll be expecting you later!"

"I should go too," Mori said, also getting up.

"Alright then, bye Mori, bye senpai!" Haruhi called, furiously typing something or other.

* * *

><p>"Arai, please be online, please be online, please be online..." she mumbled, over and over as soon as Kyoya and Mori had left.<p>

_Ping! _

_ Arai Yamamoto wishes to chat with you. Accept?_

Haruhi clicked yes, and a window popped up on her computer.

"Hey Arai! I actually really need to talk to you right now," Haruhi said, smiling.

"Sure, I'm here for you," he replied. "What'dya need?"

Haruhi bit her lip, unsure of what to say. "Well, Mori kinda wants to go out with me, but I just realized that Kyoya-senpai actually confessed to me first, and now they're both fighting and I don't know what to do and Mori got really angry today when I said I was going to spend the day with Kyoya-senpai and now I really don't know what to do!"

"Slow down there, Haru. I know they both care for you, and you don't want to hurt either one. But you really should tell both of them how you feel about this. It's better for you all to just stay friends, than rip everyone apart because of this."

Haruhi took in a deep breath. "I just really don't know anymore. Both Mori and Kyoya-senpai offer different things to me, and I love both of them, but I don't know which one I love more as a friend and who I love as more than that!"

"Maybe you should just take a break from them altogether. Chairman Suoh would probably let you take a few days off to collect your thoughts, I mean you really shouldn't over-stress about all this. It's not healthy."

"That's actually not such a bad idea. If I still get all my work, I'll still probably be fine. I just need to take a little time off from them constantly harassing me..."

"Glad to be of service. Also, make sure to check your mail. I paid extra so that it would arrive today," Arai said vaguely.

"Huh?"

"You'll see. Anyways, I have to go clean my room now! Fun, right? I'll talk to you later."

"Bye!"

Almost right after Arai logged off, the doorbell rang. "Package delivery for Haruhi Fujioka!" a slightly muffled voice could be heard from outside.

"Coming!" she called as she walked towards the door.

"Sign here, please." The deliveryman held out a clipboard with a pen attached. She signed the form, and he gave her the package. "Here you go, miss, and have a nice day!"

Haruhi thanked him, and shut the door. She went to her room, and looked at the box. It was sent by Misuzu, of all people.

She opened the box, and there was an envelope with her name on it, lying atop a mound of bubble wrap. She set the card next to her on the bed, and removed the bubble wrap from the item.

Inside was a thick, hardcover black book, with no discernible title on it. She opened the book, and on the first page, _Forever and Always, I Will Remember You_ was written in careful handwriting. Turning the page, she saw numerous pictures of her and Arai, some that she didn't even remember taking, but the memories were immortalized there nonetheless.

She opened the envelope, and opened the card inside.

_Happy birthday, Haruhi._

_ First of all, yes I know this was sent by Misuzu. I asked him to send it to you for your birthday, seeing as it would probably cost me a LOT more to try and ship it from America._

_ Anyways, I hope you like it ^^_

_ Love always,_

_ Arai_

_Goddammit, why did this boy always have to be so damn sappy?_ Haruhi thought, the beginnings of tears filling her eyes. She hastily wiped them away, and picked up the book again, losing herself in the memories that she had loved so much, memories of simpler times, memories of joy and love.


	21. Kyoya's Romantic Side?

**A/N**

**HAPPY VALENTINE'S/SINGLE AWARENESS DAY ERRYONE.**

**this is not my valentines chapter, just saying. i meant to have this chapter up like... last week... but i had a biology project that i had to do, and so the chapter is posted now.**

**hopefullyyyy i can post my valentines chapter in a few hours, its fluffy time!**

**in other news, WHY YOU NO VOTE IN THE POLL? I HAVE NO NEW VOTES! WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY. vote. nao.**

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.******

* * *

><p>Five o'clock came sooner than she thought, only being noticed by the ring of the doorbell.<p>

"Haruhi, are you there?"

_Shit. "_Kyoya-senpai, please let yourself in, I'm a little busy at the moment." She hurriedly put on a pair of black jeans, and a loose light blue shirt, and went into the living room.

Kyoya was standing in the middle of the room, looking around with a slightly disgruntled look on his face.

"Senpai, what are you doing?" Haruhi raised an eyebrow at his questionable behavior.

"Ah... I was just curious, is this apartment well-insulated?"

_What a strange question to ask..._ "Well enough, I suppose. Why?"

"No reason." And of course, Kyoya had a reason. He didn't do anything without one.

"We should get going then... what exactly were you planning to do?"

"You'll see."

Haruhi grumbled at yet another one of Kyoya's ambiguous answers. She was really going to have to work on that. She had one guy friend who spoke too little, and one that, whenever he spoke, left her more confused than she was to begin with.

Haruhi locked up the apartment, and the two went down to Kyoya's...

..._Lamborghini?_

"Senpai, what happened to the limo?" She was so used to seeing the host club members always driving around in their limousines, that this was a bit of a shock for her (never minding that Lamborghinis were still very expensive cars.)

"I know how to drive, you know. I let Tachibana take the evening off."

"...rich bastard that sometimes knows how to be nice..."

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>He pulled up in front of a small café that Haruhi had seen numerous times on her way to school, but she had never actually gone into. Until now, it seemed.<p>

Kyoya parked, got out, and then helped Haruhi out of the passenger side.

"This is different..." she mumbled to herself as she allowed Kyoya to take her arm.

"Why does everyone always assume I only exist to get money and manipulate people?" Kyoya sighed. "I really can be a nice person, if I want to."

"We'll see about that."

They sat in a table in the corner, near the window, perusing the small menu.

"Interesting choice of place, senpai," Haruhi remarked as she flipped the menu over.

"Yes, I come here often. The first time was because Tamaki dragged me here because he wanted to try it, but I actually find it a rather nice place. Tamaki found it too 'boring,' as they refused to let him bring Antoinette in, but I like the peace." Kyoya smiled faintly at the memory.

"You and Tamaki-senpai must be very close."

"Ehh... sometimes. I do give him credit for making me marginally less money-fixated, but other than that, he isn't good for too much."

Haruhi rolled her eyes at him. She supposed that this was the most admittance that Kyoya actually cared about his friends that she would ever get.

The waitress came back to their table with a pad of paper. "Have you decided on what you wish to get?" she asked the pair, as she set down two mugs full of tea.

"The usual," Kyoya replied.

"I'll try the... hmm. I'll get the pound cake sampler," Haruhi said, kind of unsure.

"Excellent choice, it's one of our best-sellers." The waitress smiled politely at them. "I'll be back soon with the food."

Haruhi sipped a bit of the tea, unsure of what to do at this point. Neither one of them was much for small talk, and that sufficed to make things pretty damn awkward.

* * *

><p>Kyoya just couldn't take it anymore, he just had to know. All these little things were just eating at him from the inside, and it just made him want to scream.<p>

"What do you have with Mori?"

It was almost a whisper, but of course, Haruhi heard it anyways.

"I'm not sure." This, too, was a murmur, but of course, Kyoya heard it anyways.

"Is it at all possible for us to try this out? To see where it goes? Because frankly, Haruhi, I cannot picture myself spending my life without you in some way, even if it is just as friends."

"I'm willing to try. But YOU have to convince Mori not to kill you if you spend time with me, after all."

Kyoya opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the return of the waitress. They thanked her, and she left.

"Wow! This looks great!" Haruhi exclaimed as she picked up her fork.

_Figures... only Haruhi could get so distracted by food._ Kyoya sipped his coffee and watched Haruhi's different facial expressions as she tried the different types of cakes.

"Senpai, do I have something on my face?" she asked, once she had realized that he was staring at her.

"No."

"Okay then..."

* * *

><p>"Thanks, senpai."<p>

They stood at the door to Haruhi's apartment, the sun just beginning to fade out of the sky.

"It was my pleasure. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Eh..." Haruhi mumbled. "I should be going now. Bye, senpai."

"Just call me Kyoya."

"I'll work on that."

He brushed his lips against her forehead briefly, and left.

* * *

><p>Haruhi sat down on her bed, confused. Why did she have to have so many problems with the host club? Besides the whole debt thing, there was this romance nonsense, them fighting, and... sometimes, she really felt like she couldn't take it anymore.<p>

She picked up her phone. Maybe she should take Arai's advice.


	22. Unromantic Valentine's

**A/N**

**ok... so it was a little longer than a few hours... VERY SORRY!**

**this isn't a very good valentine-y chapter per se, but i will have more fluffy stuff next chapter! i get a long weekend from school, so hopefully i can upload two chapters? something like that.**

**in poll news, you guys must really like kyoya. he is still in the lead, with 7 votes in comparison to 2nd place mori, who has 2 votes.**  
><strong>please continue voting! and reviewing!<strong>

* * *

><p>"WHAT?"<p>

"Tamaki, I would like it if you refrained from shouting in my ear."

"Are you serious, Kyo-chan?"

"Unless the chairman is lying to me, then yes, I am quite serious."

"I wonder why she decided to take a break from school?"

"And for seven days? That's a lot."

"Not only that, but her father has decided to ban us from visiting her for that time."

"Hm."

* * *

><p>Haruhi looked at the list of assignments that she had gotten from her teachers, checking off the final assignment.<p>

She was grateful that Chairman Suoh was always quite lax when it came to her; other school chairmen would probably have not only denied her request, but given her a long lecture, among other things.

"HARUHI! OPEN THE DOOR!"

_Please don't tell me that's Tamaki..._

It was February 14th, the final day of her school hiatus. However, it seemed that Tamaki couldn't wait ONE MORE FREAKING DAY before she came back.

She ran to her room and hid underneath the blankets, hoping that he would just give up and go away. Her time off school was one of the most peaceful times of her life, especially because her dad decided to impose a host ban on the house, supported by the chairman.

"HARU—ACKPTH!"

There was a sudden noise that one might make if they were suddenly strangled.

"I'm sorry, Haruhi-san. We have apprehended the intruder."

She recognized Tachibana's voice from outside. _Why the hell would he be here...?_

* * *

><p>"Let me go!" Tamaki hissed rather furiously.<p>

"We are under the young master Kyoya's orders not to allow anyone inside the premises besides a select group of people. You are not on that list. And surprisingly, neither is he, for that matter."

_Why is Kyoya going to such lengths to keep us away...?_ "I see..." Tamaki said, slowly rising to his feet. "I suppose I'll be going now. Please do send Haruhi my regards," he said, using his best 'formal' voice.

"Good day to you, Tamaki-sama."

* * *

><p>Mori lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. In a completely uncharacteristic move of him, Kyoya had canceled the host club for the day. It made absolutely no sense, seeing as Valentine's Day was their highest-profiting day of the year.<p>

Not that he was complaining. He didn't think he would be able to host anyways. Every girl he saw somehow turned into a vision of Haruhi. Combine that, with having to behave amicably to girls, accept their 'confessions' in stride, and overall acting very NOT in love, would have proven to be a very stressful day for him

* * *

><p>Not so far away, a certain other black-haired host was thinking exactly the same thing.<p>

Everyone had been so shocked when he had decided to cancel the club for the day. But he felt that hosting any girls besides Haruhi, especially on Valentine's Day would have shredded his heart beyond repair.

He had told the rest of the hosts that they would have a 'day after Valentine's Special Host Club,' to also celebrate the day that Haruhi would be returning as one of them. His real reasoning behind this was that he felt that maybe, just maybe, he could take all the girls' infatuations in stride with Haruhi near him.

* * *

><p>"Isn't Kyoya-senpai acting pretty damn weird today?"<p>

Kaoru was currently pouring a copious amount of maple syrup on his stack of maple-flavored pancakes while he listened to Hikaru mumble on and on.

"Yeah, he is. I mean, the greedy bastard not wanting to get MORE money? Downright strange," Hikaru answered his own question as he dug into his down stack of pancakes.

"Hika, slow down a bit, you'll choke."

"What do you care...?" Hikaru had evidently gone into a bit of one of his pouty moods again.

"I'll lose my only twin, I'll be supremely depressed," Kaoru counted on his fingers. "Oh! And then we can't play the 'Which one is Hikaru' game anymore!"

Hikaru looked fake-shocked. "My goodness, we most certainly can't have that, now can we?"

"Of course not!"

If there had been a crowd of fangirls around them, nosebleeds everywhere would have ensued. A bromancely scene unfolded in the dining room, captured by a passing maid on a camera (Kyoya paid her quite a bit of money to keep his posted with these sorts of things to sell.)

* * *

><p>"Ha~ru~hi~ I'm home!" Ranka called, dumping his purse near the front door. "They decided to let me off early today."<p>

"That's great, dad." Haruhi emerged from her room, wearing one of her, as the twins put it, 'hobo outfits,' which consisted of a loose t-shirt, sweatpants, messy hair, and the requisite glasses.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU WEARING? You almost made your poor father have a heart attack!"

_I swear to God, this guy acts so much like Tamaki-senpai... maybe that's why he hates him so much?_

"In any case, I brought you some chocolate! I hope you enjoy it!" Ranka beamed affably.

"Huh? Why?"

"Oh, silly Haruhi, don't you know what day it is?"

"Uh... February 14th... OH."

The gears in Haruhi's brain snapped into place. "Valentine's Day? To be honest, I completely forgot... I'll make you some chocolate over the weekend, dad. And I should probably make some for those host club idiots..."

Ranka ruffled Haruhi's hair, creating an even bigger mess than what was already created. "Sometimes you're just so cute!"

"Sure..." she mumbled. "I'll make dinner."


	23. The Return of the Natural Host

**A/N**

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>"Haruhi?"<p>

Hikaru and Kaoru had just walked into homeroom, and saw a familiar brown-haired figure sitting in the space that had been unoccupied for so long.

"Hi."

"...Hitachiin-san, both of you, class has started, please remove your arms from Fujioka-san."

* * *

><p>"Haruhi-kun, it's good to see you again!"<p>

Haruhi was greeted with a whirlwind of rose petals and the voices of the host club customers.

"Haruhi, my darling daughter! I hope you have been well. Your father has missed you greatly over these past days." Tamaki kneeled, and sparkles flew around him as he held out his hand.

"Senpai, what the hell are you doing?" Haruhi's blunt reply cut through all of Tamaki's sparkles, and in the blink of an eye, he was sent straight to the emo corner.

"That's the Haruhi we know! It's great to have you back." Hikaru slung his arm around her right shoulder, and Kaoru on her left.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MOLESTING YOUR SISTER LIKE THAT?"

Tamaki pounced on the redheads, sending them all into a dust-ball-fight that rolled around the room.

"Haruhi, you are aware that you do have a quota to fulfill? Being absent does not excuse you from you debt." Kyoya spoke with his indifferent mask once more, so different from the side she had seen from him before her break.

"Haru-chan, would you like some cake! We got a new one today!" Hunny glomped onto her waist, and grinned up at her.

"Welcome back." Mori allowed himself a small, almost imperceptible smile.

Haruhi sighed. _Welcome back to 'normal' life..._

* * *

><p>"Thank you ladies for coming today," Kyoya's smooth 'host voice' carried over the cacophony of voices. "However, I must inform you that is now closing. We hope to see all you lovely ladies again soon."<p>

"Aww... see you tomorrow!" All the girls (save for one) said their goodbyes, and slowly filed out of the music room.

Haruhi sighed as she surveyed the now empty room. Sometime during the club, the twins thought it would be a good idea to pick on Tamaki by throwing a pillow at his head, and it all escalated from there, leading into a gigantic pillow fight, which then eventually gave the end result of:

5,800.99: the total amount of damage caused by Tamaki and the twins, in dollars

5: ripped silk pillows, filled with the finest down

3: hosts that got yelled at by Kyoya

2: of Hunny's cakes that got smashed in the fight

1: angry shadow king

* * *

><p>"Tamaki, I cannot believe how stupid you were today." Kyoya punched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. "The same goes for you, you idiot twins."<p>

He fixed all three with a super-shadow-evil-demon-lord-number-one glare, eliciting simultaneous shudders from the trio of mischief-makers.

"You will all pay for this. _Now_."

Hikaru counted on his fingers. "Well, 5,800.99 divided by three is—"

"No."

"Eh?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"You will each pay the full amount. _Now_." Kyoya held out a locked box with a slit at the top where they could put money through.

"We don't have that kind of money on us right now," Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru all said in unison; Tamaki fearful, Hikaru angry, and Kaoru nonchalant.

"Write a check then. I know you all have checkbooks on you."

Giant metaphorical sweat-drops appeared behind each of their heads, while Mori, Hunny, Reiko, and Haruhi watched from their unobtrusive spot on the sofa, eating popcorn (well, Hunny was eating cake, but anyways...)

"Wow, Kyoya-senpai's really being ruthless this time." Haruhi shoved a large handful of the gourmet popcorn into her mouth as he watched.

"Mhm," Mori agreed from his spot next to her, as he reached into the lag as well. Their fingers brushed against each other lightly; Mori blushed a near imperceptible shade, and Haruhi didn't really seem to notice.

Hunny sighed. Sometimes, it was just so hard to convince Takashi about his feelings.

"Haninozuka-senpai, is everything alright?" Reiko asked, as she delicately placed a small forkful of devil's food cake into her mouth.

"Ah, no it's nothing."

"Whatever you say."

* * *

><p>"Well boss, you sure got us into a whole lotta trouble this time," Hikaru grumbled as he stretched out his cramped muscles. Kyoya had forced to scrub the entire club room with toothbrushes, and that had taken them three hours (and even more cups of coffee) to finish.<p>

"What are you saying? YOU'RE the one that started this all!" Tamaki puffed up indignantly, and gave Hikaru what he thought was a type of 'I'm better than you-royal-ish' look, but really only made him look like he had taken too many drugs.

Kaoru immediately started laughing. "Oh my God, your face..."

"You... you... you... DEMON TWINS!"

And thus the chase began once more...

* * *

><p>Kyoya sat in an unobtrusive corner, keeping watch on the cretins. He was quite mad, as he was losing out on valuable time that he could have been spending with Haruhi, or at least keeping Mori away from Haruhi. At least he had somewhere to went his anger out to.<p>

"Tamaki, I believe you missed a spot."

"Huh? Where?" Tamaki spun around, trying to find a non-sparkling place in the room.

"I think he means your face, boss," Hikaru sniggered.

"Huh?" Tamaki obviously didn't get the joke, and Hikaru and Kaoru started rolling on the floor, laughing. Even Kyoya cracked a small smile at this.

"Well, since the twins are now rolling on the floor, and sullying the ground beneath it with their dirty clothes, I suppose you will now need to clean that again."

"Damned... shadow... king..." An ominous grumble could be heard from the blonde, as he scrubbed away with a violet toothbrush.

* * *

><p>Mori knelt in his family's dojo, meditating silently. He was so wrapped up in it, that he didn't notice Hunny come in and kneel beside him, until the small blonde spoke;<p>

"Takashi."

"Hm?" Mori opened his eyes, and turned to the figure on his right.

"Are you really seriously seriously serious about Haru-chan? You know, I saw Kyoya take her out on her birthday... all the people around them thought they were a couple!"

Mori's eyes darkened. _So this is what Kyoya does in his spare time..._ "I refuse to back down. You know this, Mitsukuni. But I'm worried that I'm fighting a losing battle. I've seen the way she looks at him, and the way she looks at me. Him... she sees as a challenge, maybe as a lover. But me? I believe that the term 'older brother' would describe it, it's like the way Satoshi looks at me, only Haruhi does it with a bit more interest, I suppose."

Hunny frowned slightly. If Takashi talked this much, it meant that he really did have a lot on his mind. "Even if you think she's interested in Kyoya, it doesn't mean that you're out, Takashi. You can't know until she says so. You have to keep on going!"

"Sometimes I feel like giving up. Do you know what it's like, Mitsukuni? To see the one you love, being taken away from you?"

* * *

><p>Hikaru flopped on the bed he shared with Kaoru, and groaned. He felt so stiff and sore from all the scrubbing that Kyoya had made them do.<p>

Kaoru walked out of their shared bathroom, a towel around his waist. "Hika, you can go in no—GODDAMMIT MAN, GET OFF THE BED! DON'T LIE ON IT WHEN YOU'RE DIRTY!"

"I don' caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare..." Hikaru whined, turning over and stuffing his face into Kaoru's pillow.

"Go shove your dirty face into your own pillow!" Kaoru grumbled, walking over and yanking it out of Hikaru's grasp.

Hikaru mumbled something unintelligible, and got up. "Kaaaao, do you like Haruhi?"

Kaoru dropped the pillow. "Saywhutnao?"

"Do you like Haruhi? It's a simple question, you know," Hikaru shrugged.

"Uh... I've never... actually... thought about it..." Kaoru flushed a bright red.

"You do. I can tell." Hikaru said, looking his twin straight in the eyes.

"It doesn't matter. She doesn't like me anyways." Kaoru stared back, unflinching into the identical eyes before him.

"It does matter. As of right now, I am dropping out of the 'I-wanna-make-Haruhi-my-girlfriend contest. That means, you must take my place. I know you only said no because you didn't want to hurt me, you can stop trying to be so sacrificing to me. I don't deserve it."

Kaoru swallowed dryly, suddenly at a loss for words. "O...okay then, if that's what you truly want."

"I want your happiness too, Kaoru. I don't want you to be depressed and lonely just because you think you owe me something."

"Thanks, Hikaru. It really means a lot to me." Kaoru smiled, happy, but with a slightly bitter edge. He knew that it was ripping Hikaru apart inside as he made this choice.

"So. Am I forgiven for making you pillow dirty?" Hikaru stuck his tongue out at Kaoru, and winked.

_Way to spoil a mood, Hika._ "You said you wanted my happiness, too, and what would make me really happy right now is if you took a shower and got me a new pillow." He smiled evilly at his twin.

"Damn. Even when I try being nice..."


	24. Oh, Kaoru

********A/N********

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>Mori sat in homeroom in his requisite seat next to Hunny, absentmindedly doodling on a piece of scrap paper. He rested his head on his palm, and looked absolutely bored.<p>

"Takashi, you really should pay attention," Hunny gently poked Mori in the side.

"Does it really matter? They never say anything really important." Mori grumbled, flipping his pencil over so he could erase something on the paper.

"As you probably already know, and have been awaiting for a while, graduation is next month," their homeroom teacher said. At this, Mori looked absolutely startled, scaring everyone else in the room.

"Morinozuka-kun, is everything alright?" The teacher raised an eyebrow, as equally unused to seeing a non-silent Mori as the rest of the students.

"He's fine, Tanaka-sensei, he's just a little tired," Hunny quickly replied. Mori added a small fake-yawn just for effect, and went back to doodling on his paper.

Hunny took a quick glance at the paper, but looked away just as quickly when Mori's hand covered it and sent his cousin a slightly angry look. From what he could tell, it seemed to be a sketch of a person, but of what, he couldn't tell. He had a pretty good guess, though.

The teacher cleared his throat softly. "As I was saying, you will all be graduating in about a month. All the third-years will be holding a small event to celebrate their last year, as you have probably seen in years past. Each homeroom has their own booth or such to create. I leave the ideas up to you. Tanaka-kun, would you please lead the discussion?"

The class representative walked up to the front of the room. "Does anyone have suggestions for what we want to do for our homeroom?"

Hunny stood on his chair. "CAKE!"

"Err... thank you, Haninozuka-san. Any other ideas?"

* * *

><p>"Eh? Hunny-senpai, you and Mori-senpai are graduating?"<p>

Hikaru and Kaoru halted their twincestuous acts and gave Mori and Hunny strange looks.

"Yep! Why's that so weird?" Hunny asked as he chomped down on some chocolate cake.

"Well, none of us have graduated for about two years, so yeah, it's pretty weird." Kaoru shrugged as he threw a hacky-sack at Tamaki's head.

"Ow!" Tamaki turned around and grumbled. "STARLIGHT... KICK!" He kicked the ball towards the garbage, but missed, and ended up hitting...

A black aura soon surrounded the room, and a violet toothbrush was thrown at Tamaki's face.

* * *

><p>"Takashi, if we're going to graduate, what's gonna happen to you and Haru-chan?"<p>

"I don't know."

They were sitting in Hunny's room; Hunny on the bed holding Bun-Bun and Mori sprawled out on a bunny-shaped beanbag chair.

"You have to do _something_, or else Kyo-chan or Hika-chan or Kao-chan might go after her when we leave. Do you want that?"

"I don't know." Mori grabbed a pillow and plopped it on top of his face. He really didn't know what to do. There was only a month left of school before they would part ways. Sure, he would be going to Ouran University, which was like right next door to the high school, but he wouldn't be able to actively pursue her.

"You have to think of something! I'm pretty sure she likes you, you know!"

"I think she likes Kyoya better..."

"NO SHE DOESN'T TAKASHI STOP LYING TO YOURSELF YOU NEED TO HURRY UP AND CLAIM HER AS YOUR OWN!"

Hunny rarely ever raised his voice, so this was concern enough for Mori to sit back up and look his cousin straight in the eyes.

"I know I have to do something, but I've never had to before, so I don't know what to do..." Mori sounded hopeless as he flopped back down on the beanbag.

"Well..."

* * *

><p>"Kyoya, mon ami, why do you keep doing this to me?" Tamaki complained as he scrubbed a grout line in the club's bathroom.<p>

"Doing what? The bathroom needed cleaning, you are here, and I am busy. Naturally, the duty falls to you." The sound of Kyoya typing never faltered as he spoke.

"Hmph. My beauty is being wasted on such menial tasks as this!" Sparkles flew as Tamaki assumed a 'princely' pose, forgetting that there were no hordes of squealing fangirls to appreciate it.

"Tamaki, get back to work. Every moment you dawdle is a moment of my life wasted. By this logic, I have wasted many moments due to you."

"You just want to get to Haruhi, don't you?"

Tamaki's sudden question seemed to cause the room temperature to drop ten degrees.

"Tamaki, is this really any of your business?" Kyoya asked, his voice cold.

"Yes, it is. You weren't the one that almost got concussed by your best friend at their New Year's party because you saw another guy kiss the one you lived."

_I hate it when Tamaki's logic actually makes sense._ "It doesn't matter anyways. Best to let Mori have her, his family won't try to manipulate her, and she doesn't think he's nothing but a greedy shadow king."

"No, Haruhi isn't shallow enough to think that. She always looks deep into people, so that she can truly connect with them. Don't give me that 'she thinks I'm a greedy shadow king' nonsense, it's not true and we both know that." Tamaki was firm in his belief that Haruhi would see the good in his best friend, of course she would.

Kyoya sighed. "My father has issued me an ultimatum, and I have reason enough to believe my father may have threated Mori-senpai's father as well. I either have to win, or lose graciously and hope my father doesn't turn into a raving lunatic."

"Stop trying to please your father all the time! This is your life, not his, and you need to choose how to live it. If you truly love Haruhi, you would fight for her even if your father disapproved."

"I was intending to anyways. But I'm afraid Haruhi will find out about my father's demand, and then think I was motivated only by my father's ambitions and not myself."

* * *

><p>Haruhi was sitting at the kitchen table, studying for her English exam, when her phone vibrated.<p>

**Hika&Kao** (she had changed their name in her phone): **WASSUUUUP?**

She sighed. **Shudnt u be studying?**

** Hika&Kao: nah, English is easy for me. Its kao, btw.**

** Haruhi: Oh, that makes sense.**

** Hika&Kao: so how are things?**

** Haruhi: ok, I guess**

** Hika&Kao: um. Are you busy?**

** Haruhi: not terribly, just reading a couple of things over for English. Why?**

** Hika&Kao: um. Do you wanna like... hang out or somethin?**

** Haruhi: just you?**

** Hika&Kao: yeah.**

** Haruhi: ok then**

** Hika&Kao: I'll pick you up in about 15 min?**

** Haruhi: ok, sounds good. See you then!**

Haruhi looked down at her clothes, and sighed. _Well, so much for spending a day in my sweats..._


	25. Shopping, Shopping

**A/N**

**ta-dah! it's chapter 25!**

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>"Haruhi! Open the door!"<p>

Haruhi groaned. Kaoru was already here, and she still hadn't picked out an 'appropriate' outfit to wear.

"It's open!" she called out, as she dug through her closet again, searching through her jeans.

"Hmm, looking for clothes? Why didn't you just say so?" Kaoru asked nonchalantly as he leaned against the doorframe of Haruhi's room.

She blushed lightly, and shrugged. "I am capable of picking out my own clothes, you know. Plus, shouldn't it be the other way around? The girl picking out the clothes for the guy?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. This doesn't apply when the guy is a fashion designer and the girl's idea of nice clothes is wearing non-holey jeans and a nice t-shirt." Kaoru lightly pushed Haruhi to the side, and began looking through her clothes.

* * *

><p>"Haruhi, why do you still have this? There are holes all over it!" Kaoru exclaimed as he held up an old t-shirt that probably used to be white, but was now a rather odd shade of yellow-grey.<p>

"To be honest, I have no idea. I haven't looked through my closet in a while, and I don't have people that care enough to weed through it all," Haruhi replied from the living room, where she had returned to studying. It seemed that her 'date' was going to be spent with a complete role reversal of the guy caring more about the clothes than the girl.

* * *

><p>Kaoru eventually emerged with a large bag slung over his shoulder.<p>

"What's in there?" Haruhi raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, just your old clothes. I was gonna go donate them or something."

Haruhi sighed. "Let me look through it, in case you decided to give away something I wanted to keep..."

She opened the bag, and the first thing on the top was a pair of sweatpants that she had just bought yesterday.

"...KAORU HITACHIIN!"

* * *

><p>After Haruhi had finished ranting to Kaoru about how 'her clothes were hers and he shouldn't just bust into people's closets and take their clothes,' they finally left the house after Kaoru had picked some clothes for Haruhi: light grey skinny jeans and a loose black top.<p>

"So, what exactly are we going to be doing?" Haruhi asked, as she tucked a bit of hair behind her ear.

"Hm... I don't know, do you have anything particularly in mind?" Kaoru asked. Truthfully, he had no experience with girls and dates, his current situation being a snap decision because he was bored.

"Well... I guess we could go shopping? To replace some of the stuff you got rid of... BUT NO DRESSES OR SKIRTS."

Kaoru sighed. "Damn."

* * *

><p>"Miss, how many items would you like to try on?" the dressing-room attendant asked.<p>

"There's twenty," Kaoru helpfully supplied.

"I'm sorry, but there's a seven-item limit... oh!" Evidently, the attendant had just realized who Haruhi was with. "I'm sorry, please come this way."

Haruhi shot Kaoru a confused look, but Kaoru just shrugged and gestured towards the attendant.

She led them to a separate partition of fitting rooms, these much larger and more well-furnished than the other simple 'bathroom-stalls-wthout-the-toilet' rooms she had seen before.

"Please, if you have any needs, just ask." She bowed respectfully, and left.

"What was that all about?" Haruhi asked, dumping some of the clothes on a nearby ottoman.

"The high-and-mighty-rich-bastard-treatment, Haruhi. You should probably get used to it," Kaoru said, putting the stuff he was holding on a chair.

"Get used to it? Why would I ever have a need to do that?"

Kaoru sighed. _Sometimes, this girl was just so clueless..._ "Well, let's see... you're best friends with six of the hottest, richest, most influential young men in Japan... yep, is that not reason enough to get used to it?" he asked, counting on his fingers. _There's one more reason, but there's no way I could ever actually say it..._

"Nah. I don't like mooching off people like that," Haruhi remarked, as she held up one of the shirts that Kaoru had picked. "Speaking of mooching, I can't afford any of this..."

"I get you free clothes all the time, this is no different. Besides, I designed, partially designed, or had a say in some of the design in practically everything in this store. So no biggie."

Kaoru could hear a mutter of "damn rich bastard..." as Haruhi grabbed a few things and stalked off to one of the rooms. He just laughed.

* * *

><p>"Haruhi, are you done yet?" Kaoru asked. It had already been an hour, and he was itching to look at some other stores too.<p>

"Um... yeah, I guess so." She stepped out of the room, holding a large bundle of clothes.

"You gonna get any of em?"

"Eh... I liked a few of them, but I—"

"Which ones did you like? Try them on, I wanna see!" Kaoru clapped his hand and pointed back to the room.

"Like I said, total role reversal..."

* * *

><p>Haruhi ended up getting a knee-length black shirt with lace detailing, that she actually rather liked. It was easy to move in, didn't look too flashy, and it didn't know any more butt than she would ever risk being seen in public.<p>

"Okay, what should we do now?" Kaoru asked, holding onto the bag with one hand and Haruhi's hand with the other. _She's not letting go or pushing me away..._

"Food?" she asked, a cutely hopeful expression on her face as she looked up at Kaoru.

"I should have expected this," he said, laughing. "C'mon, the food court is this way."

'Food court' for this sort of mall meant stands that sold gourmet food, cooked to order, by professional chefs. Not surprisingly, Haruhi immediately headed for the sushi stand.

* * *

><p>Three orders of toro later, Haruhi was happy and in a very agreeable mood, so Kaoru decided to do a little shopping of his own. They walked into a different store, and Kaoru grabbed a few things for himself. "Haruhi, I'm just gonna try on a few things, 'kay? I'll be back in a flash."<p>

"Hm? Kay..." Haruhi seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in the kitchen appliances, so he decided just to head for the fitting rooms and do this quickly.

When he emerged about ten minutes later, Haruhi was now looking at a variety of frying pans. He poked her shoulder lightly. "Ha~" _poke_. "Ru~" _poke_. "Hi~" _poke_.

"HUH? Oh. Hi Kaoru! Isn't this pan amazing? Nonstick, and it has superior heat transfer..."

"Oh, sure, Haruhi. Did you want me to get you anything?" He was a little miffed that she seemed to care more about cooking items than him, but that was to be expected from the little tanuki.

"Nah, it's alright. Were you going to buy those?" she asked, pointing at the clothes he held.

"Oh, yeah. Was there anything else you wanted to do?"

"Not particularly..."

* * *

><p><em>Well, that was awkward...<em> They both thought on the car trip home. Silence filled the car, but neither one seemed to be close to breaking it.

The chauffeur pulled up to Haruhi's house, and was the first to speak for the twenty-minute ride. "Fujioka-sama, we have arrived. Would you like me to help you with your things?"

Haruhi looked startled. "Ah! No, that's alright. Thank you, though."

She got out of the car and took the bag. "Thanks, Kaoru, see you tomorrow!"

"See ya."

* * *

><p>Kaoru slumped in his seat, with his head in his hands. <em>First date: bombed...<em> he thought. _It was awful. I was too self-centered, I should have picked something she would have liked to do, ARGH!_

"Kaoru-sama, we have arrived at the mansion." the chauffeur's voice cut through Kaoru's mental-beating-up.

"'Kay, thanks." He got of of the car, and let himself into the house.

"HIIIKAAAAAAA!" he called out, once he had gone inside.

"KAAAOOOOO!" came the loud reply. "I'M IN OUR BEDROOM!"

Kaoru went into their room, where Hikaru was playing video games.

"Sup, Kao?" Hikaru asked, his eyes never straying from the game.

"Bombed a date."

_Thud._

Hikaru dropped his controller, and turned around with wide eyes. "Come, Kao-kao, and tell your older brother about this. I gotta hear this. Really."


	26. Ranka's Choice

**ok this is kind of on the shorter side. i'm sorry for that.**

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>"...and that's what happened."<p>

"Cool story bro, tell it again. And make me a sandwich?"

"...this is practically the WORST time to try and bring out your American jokes, Hika... plus, you used that last part wrong."

"Sorry. Anyways... you needa go fix this. Now. KAYTHANKSBYE."

"HIKARU!"

* * *

><p>...and that is how Kaoru found himself standing outside Haruhi's apartment, pacing nervously in front of the doorway, but really not doing much of anything at all.<p>

...he stayed until late at night, when the stars came up and the moon mocked him, grinning sideways in the night sky like the Cheshire Cat.

...then he went home.

* * *

><p>"Haruhi? Why is one of those twins walking in front of the doorway?"<p>

"I dunno, dad... just leave him there."

* * *

><p>Kaoru showed up at school the next day with dark circles under his eyes. His twin was clueless to the reason why, and the fangirls flitted about, speaking their concerns about his health.<p>

"Kaoru, shouldn't you take a rest? You look so tired, and I don't know why!"

"Oh, Hikaru, it's ok, as long as I have you, everything is better!"

The fangirls swooned, but both the twins knew what had really happened.

* * *

><p>"Haruhi, what's wrong?" Hunny asked, he'd noticed Haruhi acting more scatterbrained than her usual composed self.<p>

"Oh? Um, nothing, senpai. Nothing at all." she returned her gaze to the twincesting twins, as per usual. Girls still swooned left and right for the act, as though their forbidden love was better than Twilight's.

"You're not," Mori stated. He fixed Haruhi in his gaze. "We both know something's up. And I'm here for you, if you need someone who'll listen."

"Se—Takashi... I mean no offense, but I think that you may not be the right person for this," Haruhi replied, her fair skin turning the most subtle shade of pink.

He nodded once, and turned his attention to a rather interesting point on the ceiling. Hunny sighed. He realized that he had to do something, fast. If his cousin didn't get to Haruhi first, Kyoya or Kaoru certainly would. It certainly didn't help that Ranka already had a certain love for Kyoya and that karou was around so often that he was almost part of the family himself.

* * *

><p>"Hunny? This is an interesting surprise. What brings you here today?" Ranka asked as he got out the things for tea.<p>

"It's about Haruhi. I need to know something, on Takashi's behalf."

Ranka raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "What about him?"

"Who, out of the club, would you want most as Haruhi's husband?"

Ranka's eyes widened and he nearly spat out his tea. "HUSBAND?"

"Yes, husband. We are talking about the 'elite lifestyle,' people do not usually date around."

"Honestly, Hunny... I don't know. Before, I would have said Kyoya—"

"I knew it..." Hunny muttered.

"—but now I think that maybe Mori would be the better choice. And I'm not just saying that because you're here," Ranka added, seeing Hunny's disbelieving expression, "I've seen the ways that they react around her. Kaoru is too childish even though he can be very mature at times. Hikaru is double that, because of his... difficult temper. You're in a relationship, and don't EVEN get me started in that blonde fop."

_Nobody ever told Ranka that Tamaki was gay..._

"Kyoya... he's rich, handsome, intelligent... all very good qualities. But for some reason he seems to care more about winning and growth than Haruhi's actual feelings. Like he has some ulterior motives."

Hunny nodded, and motioned for Ranka to continue.

"I've seen Mori... whenIstalkyouguyssometimes," Ranks hurriedly mumbled the last part. "But I can see how he's always watching over her to protect her, yet he's also willing to step back if she loves someone else."

A sudden knock on the door startled them both. Ranka rose to open it...


	27. When One is Desperate, Ask the Crazies

**hurrhurrhurr. so i trolled you all with that last chapter ending, right? sorry about that.**

**also sorry that this chapter is short, but i think it's important. it clears up a lot of stuff.  
><strong>

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>"Hunny-senpai? Why are you here?"<p>

Hunny turned towards the entrance of the living room area, only to see Haruhi taking off her coat.

"Oh! Hunny wanted to catch up with me! I haven't talked to him in so long, you know..."

_Nice save, Ranka._ "I'll be going now, actually. Thank you for having me." Hunny got up and walked towards the door. "See you later, Haru-chan!"

* * *

><p>"Dad, why was Hunny-senpai here?" Haruhi asked as she poked around in the fridge.<p>

"I told you, he wanted to catch up and—"

"I know he wasn't here just to catch up with you," Haruhi sighed.

"Ah... well you know, that's between him and me!" Ranka exclaimed. "Oh, look at the time! I need to head off to work now, bye Haruhi! Don't stay up 'cause I'll probably be back late!"

_It's 5:30 PM and your shift doesn't start until 8..._

* * *

><p>Haruhi sighed as she finished the last of her homework for the day. everyone was just acting so weird, and she didn't understand why. There was Mori, there was Kyoya, and she didn't even know where to begin with the twins. It was all just some huge, complicated mess that she didn't know what to do about.<p>

During times like this, there was only one thing she could really do.

And she kind of didn't want to do that.

_Call Mei._

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"Hey Mei... it's Haruhi."

"No shit! I could tell from the caller ID! Whatcha want, girl?"

"I don't know what to do."

"That's a first. You usually know everything! And when you don't know something, you never ask me! So..."

"I have issues with guys and I have no idea what to do!"

"Oh really now! Is it Tamaki? You know I always thought he had the hots for yo—"

"No, Mei, it's not him."

"Who is it, then?"

"Kyoya-senpai, Mori, and the twins..."

"You mean specs, tall hot guy, and redheads?"

"...yeah."

"What about them?"

"Apparently they all like me!"

"WHOA GIRL. Are you serious?"

"Yep..."

"So tell me how things have gone so far."

"Well... Mori, Kaoru, and Kyoya have taken me out on dates and Hikaru... I'm not sure about."

"Hm... well from what I know, I think that Hikaru's too... hotheaded. Kyoya's really possessive but he's rich and that's cool. I dunno about Mori cuz he never talks or anything. Kaoru... I don't see anything wrong with Kaoru! So you're good there!"

"Um... thanks, Mei."

"Glad to be of service. Try and set me up with Hikaru, will ya? I've always had the hots for him..."

"Ah... I'll see..."

* * *

><p>Well, that went well. It was time to do the other thing that Haruhi wasn't sure she wanted to do.<p>

_Ask Arai._

* * *

><p>"Hey Arai!"<p>

"Hey Haru! How ya doin?"

"I'm good... ish."

"Okay, what 's up? I know you need something..."

"Ah... it's about the guys."

"You mean how they all like you and blah?"

"YOU KNOW?"

"Now, I never said that. So what's the issue?"

"Mori, Kaoru, and Kyoya all apparently like me, I'm not sure about Hikaru. Have I also mentioned that Mei wants me to hook her up with Hikaru?"

"Damn! That's crazy!"

"I know."

"So... uh... what exactly did you want?"

"Your personal opinion on things?"

"Hm... okay... I don't really like Kyoya. He never struck me as a very good person... I mean he's not a bad person, but he always seems to have ulterior motives and stuff, y'know?"

"I see..."

"Mori... he seems cool I guess. He doesn't talk much though. Kinda intimidates me. But he seems like a nice guy."

"Hm."

"Now you're acting like him. 'Hm'-ing all the time. Alright... Kaoru seems pretty chill, hes' nice, not as much of an ass as Hikaru is. I don't really like Hikaru. Mei can have him. Yeah. I guess that's all I can really think of at the moment..."

"...just saying, you know how weird we are?"

"Huh? How are we weird?"

"Well, most people don't go asking their exes for their opinions on their new boyfriends..."

"Hey, last time I checked, you were the one who started the whole conversation. Plus, I would prefer it if you didn't think of me as your ex so much as... I dunno, your best friend or something?"

"...I guess. I'll talk to you later, Arai, it's getting late and I need to sleep."

"Alright. Just call me—wait, don't call me cuz international phone bills are a bitch. Just webcam me again or something. I dunno. See ya!"


	28. Graduation

**A/N**

**this will be the 2nd to last chapter. it's been a long journey, but all journeys must come to an end.**  
><strong>i have made one final poll, and i will not conclude the story until i get 10 votes (although i've already 70% decided who it's gonna end with.)<strong>

**thank you for sticking with me this long.  
><strong>

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p>"HA! RU! HI!"<p>

"Shut up, Kaoru.."

"NO! IT'S HIKARU!"

"It's Kaoru. Even if you're on the phone, I can tell."

"...damn."

"Did you want something?"

"Yeah. Do you wanna go out today?"

"...Kaoru, it's 4 AM on a Wednesday that's not a holiday. Go back to sleep."

"...darn."

* * *

><p>"Haru-chan! We need some more towels over here!"<p>

"Huh? Why?"

She looked over to where Hunny was calling her, and immediately understood why. There were crying girls. Everywhere. Literally, everywhere.

Why, you might ask?

Well... it was the last official club meeting before the two senior members graduated. Of course, that meant fangirl sobs and overall sadness, meaning lots and lots of crying would be going on.

Hence the towels.

Mere tissues alone could not withstand the amount of tears that fell from the poor girls' eyes.

Not even the 'rich bastard' tissues.

* * *

><p>"Oh Mori-senpai and Hunny-senpai! I will miss you so dearly after you're gone!" Tamaki stage-sobbed as he flung the back of his hand against his forehead.<p>

"It's okay Tama-chan!" Hunny embraced Tamaki, the two blondes bursting into tears. Mori just patted their heads and smiled sadly.

"Well, at least our expenses will go down from the lesser amount of cake we're going to have to buy... then again, it equals out to revenue lost from their services..."

"Kyoya-senpai, stop being such an insensitive nutcase and join the festivities!" two red-headed devils sang, each slinging an arm around one of the bespectacled man's shoulders.

His jaw twitch slightly before he finally gave in with a sigh. "If you insist. You do know we're going to have a party later, right? So there's no need for me to partake in the festivities now..."

* * *

><p>Later that evening, the host club gathered in one of Tamaki's ballrooms, which was decked out in graduation décor.<p>

Luckily for Haruhi, the dress code was casual.

Unluckily for Haruhi, 'old t-shirt and jeans' did not pass for casual to the twins.

So even later that evening, Haruhi returned in a nice t-shirt and a new pair of jeans.

The twins were still angry, but somewhat appeased.

* * *

><p>For some reason, the whole graduation freaked Haruhi out. A lot. Part of it was probably because two of her best friends were graduating. And another part of it was probably that she may or may not have mixed feelings about one of the said graduates.<p>

All the host club members stole her away for dances during the party, but four in particular stood out.

Kyoya's was perfect, but also carried a tone of possessiveness that carried over when Hikaru tried to dance with her next.

Hikaru tried to remain neutral, but Haruhi noticed his hand dipping ever-so-slightly below what normally counted as 'appropriate.'

Kaoru was sweet, as always, but would occasionally dip her unexpectedly. Which was scary.

And Mori... was just really not very good at dancing, so they just kind of hug-swayed.

* * *

><p>Eventually, Haruhi managed to get some time for herself (she told Shima not to tell the others where she was, and she locked herself in the bathroom.)<p>

She lay back down on the plush rug in the center of the bathroom and stared up at the ceiling. She really needed to work things out.

_Kyoya and Mori and Kaoru and who knows about Hikaru... I need to decide._

_ Honestly... I don't think I like Kyoya all that much. He used to scare me a lot. But I don't know, he always acts differently around me and confuses me, but I like that side of him. Sometimes, though, I feel like I can't really trust him, but he's one of the most trustworthy people I know at the same time._

_ Mori... I don't know how he feels a lot. I don't even know if he really likes me. But even if he doesn't say it, I can feel it through his actions. But do I really want that? We both hide how we feel a lot, but don't they say opposites attract?_

_ Kaoru is mischievous, definitely. But once he's on his own, he's really sweet and I get along with him well. But the thing is, he isn't alone. There's Hikaru to consider. I don't know what's going on between them, but I know that if I choose one over the other, I'll hurt one of my two best friends. And I would prefer to avoid that..._

After arguing with herself for a while, she didn't know how long, she made her decision. She knew it was the best choice. She just hoped that she wouldn't hurt them...

* * *

><p>Of course, Tamaki had figured out where Haruhi was after a mad dash around Suoh mansion #2.<p>

"HARUHI! OPEN UP!"

Unknowingly, she had ended up falling asleep on the rug. Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she unlocked the door.

Of course, she was immediately tackled my a crying blonde man.

"Senpai... get... OFF!" Haruhi managed to shove Tamaki off of herself with a little help from Hunny and Mori.

"So anyways... what were you doing up here in the bathroom? You were gone for three hours," Kaoru remarked as he sat on the edge of the bathtub.

"Haru-chan, it's really weird for someone to do that, y'know?"

She let out a huge breath. "Guys..."

"Hm?"

"I have a confession to make. A really big confession, that involves all of you."

"So? Spit it out!"

"Shut up, Hikaru... so here goes. As you may or may not have known... several of you guys have expressed romantic interest towards me. And I know this seems sudden, but it really took me by surprise that graduation was already here, and if I didn't say any of this now, I never would."

The host club had varying expressions on their faces, ranging from shock, disbelief, and neutral.

"I'm sorry, Mori-senpai, Kyoya-senpai, Kaoru, Hikaru... but I've made my decision regarding this. You're all amazing people in your own ways. You have very distinct personalities, each with different aspects that drew me in. However, there's only one person I can choose. That's why I was hiding in the bathroom... so I could get away and think."

Mori, Kyoya, Kaoru, and Hikaru had all unconsciously ended up moving more forwards than the rest, anxious to hear the results.

"My decision is..."


	29. Finale

**saving the a/n for the end.**

********DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran, and probably never will. The plot is mine, as well as any OC's that I may use in the future. Use my plot without permission, and I predict that ninjas will attack you soon.********

* * *

><p><em>"You..."<em>

* * *

><p>Haruhi smoothed her dress anxiously, her fingers tracing patterns across the lace of her white skirt. The dress, naturally, had been custom-designed by the famed Hitachiins, and it would be their first in the twins' new line of wedding dresses. Surprisingly, she had managed to convince them that her dress should be kept on a more conservative style, rather than some of the 'wedding dresses' she had recently seen that looked more fit to wear to a bar than to a ceremony.<p>

She took another look in the mirror, and sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. The plush burgundy velvet on the chair's cushion sank slightly where she leaned against it, trying not to break out in a nervous sweat and ruin the makeup that had been so carefully applied. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, the white silk making swishing noises when it moved.

"Haruhi, it's almost time!" Ranka whispered. He had elected to wear a suit for the occasion, to show his 'manly fatherly pride' as he led his daughter off to her soon-to be husband.

She rose from the chair, careful of her two-inch heels, and straightened her dress. Ranka handed her a small bouquet of white roses, and took her arm. The doors opened, and Haruhi knew her life would change forever.

* * *

><p>As the requisite wedding music was played by Tamaki, Haruhi did her best to look completely un-nervous. It didn't quite work.<p>

"Haruhi, dear, you're shaking."

She had a sudden urge to trod on her father's foot, but couldn't figure out a way to do so discreetly. They walked up together towards the altar, where her fiancé awaited her.

They managed to reach the altar without much incident, and Haruhi gave a small smile as her father relinquished his hold on her, albeit rather unwillingly, and requested a tissue right afterwards. _A drama queen until the end._

"You look great!" Mei whispered, dressed in a red dress of her own design. Haruhi had decided to let Mei, with some advice from the twins, design the bridesmaid dresses, and was quite stunned with the result. It was strapless (Mei's favorite design), fell to the knees in a lightly pleated skirt, and had a diamond 'belt' around the waist. Haruhi's own wedding dress was similar, but white, full length, more decorated, and made of silk, rather than chiffon.

Haruhi was nervous, her eyes darting around. She saw her line of bridesmaids; Mei, Renge, and Kurakano. She saw the host club amidst the line of groomsmen, her fiancé's best friend as the best man. She hoped her mom was there, watching over her on her special day. She finally managed to bring her eyes up to the one she loved most of all, and his eyes seemed to melt her on the inside.

* * *

><p>"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to celebrate the union between these two very lovely people today..." the minister began.<p>

The vows were read, and the final words binding them together were about to be said.

Haruhi looked up into the smiling face of the man she was about to be with for the rest of her life. He smiled widely, as though he could die right now and be happy still.

"I do."

"Do you, Haruhi Fujioka, take this man to be you lawfully wedded husband, through sickness and in health, to stand by his side forevermore, as long as you both shall live?"

"I..."

* * *

><p>"Do..."<p>

"Hm? Are you sleep-talking again?" he asked as he pulled Haruhi close to him.

"Ah!" she opened her eyes. "Just... dreaming."

"About?"

"Oh... nothing?" she blushed, grateful that the dark room hid her blush.

"Mm, you're blushing, I can tell."

"Darn."

"So tell me."

"Hm... no." Haruhi smiled impishly, and turned so that her back was facing her husband.

He sighed. "Please?"

"Our wedding."

She could she the slight gleam of his smile as he hugged her.

"Haruhi Fujioka, I love you, and will forever and always."

"And I love you too, forever and always, Takashi Morinozuka."

* * *

><p><strong>ending AN**

**so i know you were all probably expecting that. i kind of wanted to use a twin and throw everyone off but since you wanted mori, mori you will get :P i didn't want to use kyoya for several reasons. one, there's already a lot of kyoharu fics out there. two, i just didn't feel like he would suit this. i don't know. author's feels.  
><strong>

** i decided to end the story with a dream, as it began with one as well. thank you for your support throughout this story.  
><strong>

**some of you may be wondering about my next fic. honestly... i don't think i will be writing another fic any time soon. i've tried my hand, and it didn't really suit my fancy. maybe some day i'll come back, but nothing anytime in the near future.  
><strong>

**if you're interested in reading k-pop fanfiction/scenarios, you can read more of my other writing at emolyscenarios . tumblr . com (remove the spaces), as that is where my new writing interests have moved.  
><strong>

**i'm also in the process of writing an original novel, just because i was bored one day. who knows? maybe someday i'll publish it.  
><strong>

**once again, thank you for all your support you have given me, through 30+ favorites, 100+ reviews and 9,000+ story hits. i'm eternally grateful for all the love you've shown me here.  
><strong>


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